The Family That Slays Together, Book 1: Home Base
by MadTom
Summary: This is a PostChosen followup to my other work, BLOOD OF THE NIGHT STALKER. You're encouraged to read that work if you haven't already done so, but you don't have have to do that first in order to enjoy this storyline.
1. Chapter 1

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

This is a Post-"Chosen" followup to my other work, _Blood of the Night Stalker_, but although you're encouraged to read that work if you haven't already done so, you don't have have to do so first in order to enjoy this work. I think I've included enough of the backstory in this work, and particularly in Chapter 1, for you to follow the storyline. I don't even consider it AU. I deliberately wrote _Blood of the Night Stalker_ to remain in-canon, or at least to not contradict anything within series canon. All you have to do is accept the premise that sometime in late Season 7 (somewhere between "First Date" and "Lies My Parents Told Me"), Joyce's parents and sister became more involved in Buffy's and Dawn's lives. Oh, yes, and even if you've never heard of Carl Kolchak, all you need to know is that Grandpa knows a little something about slaying vampires himself!

One other caveat: although we stay in-canon for _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, in later books of this storyline we do go _slightly_ AU for _Angel_ Season 5. More on that when we get to it.

* * *

CHAPTER 1

Colette McDade stepped back up to the plate. She was nervous enough as it was, having one of the lowest batting averages in the entire Glendale girls' little league, but now her whole family was watching her, including her new-found Grandpa. She bit her lip nervously as the pitcher sneered at her and the infielders taunted her. They knew where her standing was in the league.

She couldn't believe that Coach Wainwright hadn't sent in a pinch-hitter. They were trailing by one run at the bottom of the 9th with one out and a runner on third. A suicide squeeze bunt to tie the game was in order, but she bunted foul on the first pitch, and a called strike on the second left the count at 0 and 2, pretty much eliminating the squeeze bunt as an option. She had to make a swing for the outfield and knew a sacrifice fly was the best she could hope for.

She couldn't describe what happened next, except that a surge of energy had run through her body, bringing with it a sense that she couldn't be beaten, couldn't lose. She'd recently learned the word "euphoria" in her 6th Grade class. Maybe that was it, but at any rate, she smiled. She saw the pitcher wind up with the same motions she had for her last two pitches which were fastballs, but now it was as if she and the ball were in slow motion. The ball came, straight and nearly level, a little low and outside, but so slow and seemingly large that Colette could see the individual surface stitches as it rotated in midair. She swung for it with all her strength and she couldn't possibly miss such a big, slow target.

She'd never heard the crack of the bat so loudly before, and probably few people in that ballpark had either. Most of her team's fans stood and cheered in amazement as everyone saw the line drive shooting past the shocked fielders, over the left field fence and onto the far side of the parking lot outside. Colette took a leisurely jog around the bases, but the world still seemed to be in slow motion, and she nearly ran into the back of her teammate who had been on third base, and was only a step behind her as the two girls crossed home plate.

The whole team had cleared the dugout and was waiting for them. After wading through a sea of hugs and backslaps, Colette was lifted up on their shoulders and delivered in triumph to her parents, sixteen year old sister, fourteen year old brother, grandmother and grandfather. They all hugged her and were just as euphoric as she was. But Colette noticed that, through all the smiles and embraces, Grandma shot an anxious, questioning glance at Grandpa, who shrugged and frowned back momentarily with the same look of worry; it was as if they knew something that they weren't telling anyone else.

Grandma and Grandpa lagged behind the rest of the family on the walk back to the McDade family's van. There was a lot of noise around her from the rest of her family as well as her teammates and their families, and Colette thought her grandparents were too far behind for her to hear, but she could swear she heard snatches of their conversation:

"It wouldn't be because of Buffy," Grandpa said. "Remember, there's a second one out there. We figured if a new one was chosen, it would be because of the second one dying, not Buffy."

"What about Dawnie?" Grandma asked.

"Dawnie's an extremely rare and special case. It's definitely not because of her."

Grandma and Grandpa appeared to have put the worries aside by the time the family joined with those of several of Colette's teammates at the neighborhood ice cream parlor. The Sundaes, cones, sodas and other refreshments were handed out and consumed freely by the players and their families; Grandpa, whose rumpled off-white seersucker suit and straw hat belied the fact that he was filthy rich, once again insisted on picking up the tab. Colette was perceptive enough to tell that her grandparents were making a conscious effort not to spoil her moment in the sun. The stunning comeback victory that had made her the center of attention had also managed to make her family momentarily forget the underlying worries everyone had over her cousins, who had decided to stay behind in a town that had been largely evacuated because of increasing seismic tremors.

It was yet another strange, emotional roller-coaster event in a strange Spring of 2003. It all started during Spring Break when Colette and her parents, sister and brother had gone to visit her grandmother in La Jolla and then went camping with her. When her grandmother checked her answering machine upon their returning to her condo, there was a message from Colette's 16 year old cousin Dawn in Sunnydale, asking Grandma to call back.

Colette could still remember the long-ago days when she and her sister Cyndi and brother Eric were close to their cousins Buffy and Dawn. Her mother and Aunt Joyce had always been close, and her mother and grandmother still occasionally reminisced about how inseparable Buffy and Celia had been. Celia, Colette's oldest sister, had taken ill and died suddenly at age seven, before Colette was born and while Eric was a baby and Cyndi and Dawn were toddlers. The loss had brought the extended family closer, but change had inevitably come.

First, Aunt Joyce and Uncle Hank got divorced, and she moved up the coast to Sunnydale with Buffy and Dawn. Then Colette's nuclear family moved to Illinois for three years. The last time Colette could remember the extended family being close was the Thanksgiving that Aunt Joyce and Dawn flew in to Illinois, as did Grandma, although Buffy had chosen to stay behind with her friends. By the time the nuclear family moved back to California, they found Aunt Joyce and her daughters strangely distant for no apparent reason.

Aunt Joyce's sudden death two and a half years ago devastated both Colette's mother and grandmother, while making Buffy and Dawn even more distant. Colette, Cyndi and Eric confided to each other that they were secretly grateful that Buffy and Dawn had declined their parents' offer to take them in and decided to stay in Sunnydale. It probably would have meant Colette doubling up with Cyndi and Buffy and Dawn taking her room. For a year and a half after the funeral, they didn't see Buffy or Dawn, and the phone calls were few and far between. Over that period, the whole family seemed to agree that Dawn was maintaining a constant level of morose politeness toward them, while Buffy went through some extreme mood swings, from a strange, almost robot-like cheerfulness as though the loss had never occurred, to a gloomy, depressed withdrawal where she could barely hold a conversation. Finally, last summer they stopped by in Glendale on the way to see Grandma in La Jolla, and afterward, everyone including Grandma agreed that Buffy and Dawn were more or less their old selves again, although still distancing themselves from the rest of the family to some extent.

Grandma still worried openly about them, but Colette knew that a big part of that was her overbearing, overprotective, sometimes downright meddlesome nature. So when she returned Dawn's call, apparently some strange boy named Andrew had answered, and neither Dawn nor Buffy were home. Colette wasn't surprised at all when she saw that Grandma was rather upset at this, but after she said to the boy: "Carl? And who the hell is Carl?" and listened to the answer, she turned white and hung up the phone in a state of hysterics that nobody in the family had ever seen her in before.

Through the hysterics, the family was able to gather that Grandma wanted them to get in their van and return immediately to Glendale, and that she was going with them. They did so, and as they hit the road, Grandma further explained that after they let Dad and the kids off at home, she wanted Mom to continue with her on to Sunnydale; they were getting Buffy and Dawnie out of there because their lives were in grave danger.

Then after regaining her composure, Grandma delivered the two biggest bombshells of the family's existence. The first she said to Mom: "Polly, there's something I need to tell you: your father's alive!"

It was a good thing that Dad was driving and that that stretch of highway was fairly empty, because Mom almost fainted. As it was, Dad nearly lost control of the van.

Grandma had always been secretive about their grandfather's life and death. All they knew was that his name was Kirk Wilson and that he was a newspaper reporter in Las Vegas who died when Mom was six and Aunt Joyce was four. As the two sisters grew up, his occupation and the locale led them to speculate that he had run afoul of the local Mafia and its gambling operations, and had been the victim of a Mob hit. It was a speculation that Grandma did nothing to discourage and, after both sisters had married, that both Dad and Uncle Hank had agreed seemed to make sense.

"D- Daddy's alive?" Mom whispered in disbelief, still pale.

"Yes, Polly."

"Then he's been on the run from the Mob," Dad nodded. "Or he's been in some kind of witness protection program."

"No, not exactly," Grandma replied. "But I did take you and Joyce away from him because your lives were in danger." After a long thoughtful pause, she delivered the second bombshell. "And his name isn't Kirk Wilson. It's Carl Kolchak."

Colette didn't think Mom could get any whiter, but she did.

"You mean the red-haired man with the straw hat that Joyce and I remembered wasn't our daddy?" Mom's voice shook.

"That was him," Grandma nodded. "But his name was- is- Carl Kolchak. Kirk Wilson was just a name I made up as a cover story after we left Las Vegas. I picked the name Wilson because it's pretty common and plain, made it harder for us to be tracked down."

"By the Mob or whoever it was who was after him."

"And by your father himself," Grandma nodded again. "It's not that I didn't love him. It was the most painful decision I've ever made in my life. But I decided that it was too dangerous for you and Joyce to have any contact with him. I didn't think I could count on him to stay away from us, so that's why I changed our name." After a thoughtful pause, she added. "But I always had this feeling that, with his skills as an investigative reporter, he'd be able to find us someday. He may have even found us a long time ago but just kept his distance."

"Carl Kolchak, investigative reporter," Dad chuckled skeptically. "THE Carl Kolchak! Mom, you're telling us that your ex-husband- Polly's dad- is THE Carl Kolchak? Kolchak the Night Stalker?"

"You've heard of him, I see," Grandma nodded.

"Mom, he's a fictional TV character!"

"No, Matt," Grandma told him, "but actually, the more people who believe that, the safer we are."

"Carl Kolchak, the Night Stalker, is Polly's dad!" Dad laughed. "My father-in-law. The grandfather of my children!"

"As crazy as it sounds..."

"I suppose that means that his girlfriend in the first movie, the one the cops ran out of town in Vegas at the end, was you!"

"Yes, Matt," Grandma replied calmly. "Except it was my decision. Nobody ran me out of town. And I'm grateful that Carl changed the story for the movie, so the public didn't know we were married and that Polly and Joyce existed."

"So why are you telling us this now, Mom?" Colette could see that her mother was obviously still having trouble absorbing everything, much more than her siblings and herself.

"Because your father has found and made contact with Buffy and Dawnie," Grandma replied. "He's with them in Sunnydale right now, and _their_ lives are in danger! We have to get them out of there and away from him, and bring them back to Glendale! I know how crazy this sounds, but..."

"Matt," Mom said, "you seem to have heard of this Carl Kolchak person. Does this sound crazy to you?"

"To be honest," Dad replied, then took a deep breath, "yeah!... But there's no harm in your taking a drive up to Sunnydale and humoring your mom."

Grandma rolled her eyes back. "Thank you, Matt," she said dryly.

"Besides," Dad added with another chuckle, "Buffy and Dawn could use a good laugh. God knows they haven't had much to laugh about the last two years!"

"So tell me about this Carl Kolchak person who's supposed to be the father I thought was dead for the last forty years!" Mom said anxiously.

"I'd better let your mom do that," Dad replied with another chuckle.

But Grandma frowned. "I don't care if you think this is a joke, or if you think I'm crazy, Matt. As long as you're okay with Polly taking me to Sunnydale." She sighed, pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest.

"We can all go up to Sunnydale!" Dad smiled. "I want to see how this plays out."

"No," Grandma said. "We're bringing Buffy and Dawnie back with us, and there wouldn't be room for them here in the van. And I don't need you with us if you think this is a joke!"

"Suit yourself," Dad shook his head and continued to laugh. "Here I was, thinking I was one of the luckiest men in the world, married twenty-four years and never once thinking my mother-in-law was nuts. I knew it had to end sometime!"

"Mom, I've never seen you like this," Mom told Grandma. "I don't think you'd joke about something like this. So what's going on? If it's not the Mafia, then why did you make me and Joyce think Daddy was dead all these years, and why are Joyce's girls in grave danger?"

"It's a long story, Polly," Grandma replied wearily. "I'll tell you on the way up to Sunnydale after we drop Matt and the kids off."

The three adults remained quiet for the rest of the drive back to Glendale. Colette and Eric both started to ask Grandma some questions, but big sister Cyndi shut them up each time with an elbow to the ribs or a slap to the back of the head. When they got home, Mom didn't even take the time to unload her luggage from the camping trip before she and Grandma went on. Which was just as well, because they ended up not coming home for two days.

"So, Dad," Colette asked worriedly as the van drove out of sight, "do you really think Grandma's cracking up?"

"I don't know, Honey."

"Then what's the story about this Cole Karlchak who's supposed to be our Grandpa?" Cyndi asked.

"Carl Kolchak," Dad corrected her. "It may be just some delusion your Grandma's having. In fact, the more I think about it, it probably is."

"But that _was_ Dawn's voice on Grandma's answering machine," Cyndi said. "We all heard it. But all she did was just ask Grandma to call back. Why would calling Buffy and Dawn's house make Grandma crack up and go all delusional?"

"I'm not sure," Dad shook his head. "But I thought the best thing would be to humor Grandma. Maybe when they get to Sunnydale and she sees that there's nobody there named Carl Kolchak, she'll come to her senses."

"So what's the story with this Carl Kolchak?" Colette repeated.

"Like I said, Sweetheart," Dad smiled, "he's a fictional character." He chuckled again, "Although if he weren't, it might explain some of the weird stuff going on with your cousins!"

"Like what?" Eric asked.

"Never mind. I shouldn't say stuff like that!"

And with that, Dad clammed up again, leaving Colette and her siblings with only one way to get an answer.

It took a few trial-and-error attempts at spelling "Carl Kolchak" on Google before they found a number of websites about a couple of old TV movies and a series called "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" from the early to mid 1970s, when Mom and Dad were teenagers and before they met in college. They could instantly see why Dad would have heard of Carl Kolchak while Mom hadn't: Mom wasn't into horror and monster movies. Carl Kolchak was an investigative reporter who, in the first movie, began covering a serial killer in Las Vegas who turned out to be a vampire, and ended up killing him with a stake after the police failed to kill the vampire in a shootout. He went on in the second movie and the series to investigate cases involving various vampires, monsters and other supernatural forces. Unfortunately, his editors and the police were forever suppressing the truth about his cases, and much of the world saw him as a crackpot.

"Kinda like _The X-Files_ without the guns and FBI badges," Eric quipped as the three of them gathered around the computer in the family room.

What really struck the three siblings was that on one of the websites, they found some still pictures from the first movie, of Darren McGavin, the actor who played Carl Kolchak, with an actress named Carol Lynley who did look a lot like pictures they'd seen of Grandma when she was younger. And Kolchak's trademark was a straw hat.

"Dad's right," Cyndi nodded. "If this guy were for real and he were our grandfather, it might explain a lot about Buffy and Dawn."

"Better them than us!" Eric laughed.

"Hey, guys!" Dad yelled from the kitchen, "Better get off the Internet and leave the phone line open. Mom might try to call."

But Mom didn't call right away, and after dark, they tried calling Buffy and Dawn's number at home and got no answer, not even their answering machine. They knew their cousins had cell phones but didn't know the numbers. It wasn't until almost midnight that Mom finally called. She was obviously emotionally drained, crying and barely coherent, but from what they could gather, Grandma wasn't nuts after all, Carl Kolchak was a real person who was there in Sunnydale, and he really was the Daddy that Mom remembered from her childhood. She and Grandma were staying up there for another day or so but were staying, not at Buffy and Dawn's house because there were a lot of other people staying there, but at Carl's hotel suite just outside town.

They came home two days later, not with Buffy and Dawn but with a long-lost grandfather who really did look like the actor Darren McGavin and wore a straw homburg hat and rumpled seersucker suit.

Colette and her siblings never got the whole story, but one thing was obvious to them: Grandma and their new-found grandfather had either fallen in love all over again or had never really stopped loving each other after over forty years of separation. In hindsight, the fact that no one in the family could remember Grandma ever showing any serious interest in any other men suggested the latter. Colette and her siblings bonded quickly with Carl Kolchak, taking quite easily to calling him Grandpa. For the next several days, Colette doubled up with Cyndi while Grandma took her room, and Grandpa checked into a nearby motel, although he spent most of the time with them, getting to know the family that had been taken from him and had grown in his absence. The kids soon learned that Grandpa had made a huge amount of money from royalties for the scripts of _The Night Stalker_ movies and series and several stories from _The X-Files_. He was transferring large but undisclosed sums of money to the bank accounts of Grandma, Mom, and their cousins in Sunnydale.

Nobody said anything to the kids about what had happened in Sunnydale, or the bruises Mom and both grandparents had on their arms and legs, or the bandage on Mom's forearm, but a couple of weekends later, Buffy and Dawn drove up to the house, not in Aunt Joyce's old Jeep Cherokee but in a new silver Mercedes SL coupe that they soon learned was Grandpa's and that he had left behind with them in Sunnydale. When their cousins came to the door, there was a genuine and heartfelt exchange of hugs and affection between them and Mom and Grandma that they hadn't seen since Aunt Joyce was still alive. More surprisingly, Buffy and Dawn extended that same affection toward their three cousins. But Colette couldn't help noticing, with a little bit of jealousy, that there was a particular bond that Grandpa had with the Summers girls that wasn't quite there with his McDade grandchildren.

After Buffy and Dawn refreshed themselves from the long drive and settled down in the living room with the rest of the family, it was Grandma who took charge of the gathering.

"Buffy, Dawnie, I'm sorry to have to make you two drive down here..."

"It's okay, Grandma," Dawn smiled. "Buffy doesn't like to drive, but I do. I had a blast with the Mercedes!"

"Good. I'm glad," Grandma continued. "I know the plan was for us to go back up to Sunnydale for your grandfather's car, but there wasn't room in the van for all of us, and he and I have an announcement to make that we wanted to make in front of the whole family."

She smiled sadly as she made eye contact with each of her five grandchildren. "In the forty-one years since I took your mothers away from your grandfather, there wasn't a day when I didn't agonize over whether or not I'd done the right thing. At the time, what I knew told me that, as painful as it was, it was for the best, and that their very lives and the very existence of all five of you depended on it. But I always wondered. Buffy and Dawn, now the things I've learned in the few weeks since your Grandpa entered your lives have made me wonder if the lives of you and your mother might have been made easier if he'd been a part of it all along. Or at least if the three of you had known the truth from the start. But I can't change the past, only the future."

She paused and sniffed as her eyes began to water. "The one right thing I know that I've done over the years is that in all these years of separation, I never filed for divorce. It just never felt right. And your grandfather never filed any divorce papers either. Legally, we're still Mr. and Mrs. Carl Kolchak." She smiled as she and Grandpa moved closer together and placed their arms around each other. "So your grandfather and I are going to start living together again. And I'm proud to be able, after forty-one years, to once again call myself Mrs. Joan Kolchak!"

There were joyful exclamations as all the family members stood and gathered around the couple, and each gave the two of them a tearful hug. Mom was particularly tearful, but Grandma elicited a loud sob out of everyone as she embraced Buffy and Dawn and said to them, "I only wish your mother were here to see this!"

After they composed themselves again, Grandpa spoke up. "We've decided to keep our current homes. Your grandma's pretty much settled in at her condo in La Jolla and most of her friends are there. And I'm going to keep my house up in Lake Keogh; the whole family can use it as a vacation home as needed. But we're going to start looking for a house or maybe build one, probably around Oxnard or Ventura or Ojai so that it's about midway between here and Sunnydale. So we can be close to everybody."

They all had a pleasant lunch, with Buffy and Dawn getting caught up on things with the rest of the family. It was actually a lot of small talk; much was about the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High where Dawn was a sophomore and Buffy had been hired as a peer counselor, but the two of them were rather selective in the details they discussed. Cyndi actually drew stone silence from both of her cousins and uncomfortable looks from her grandparents when she observed that Buffy seemed to have the bad luck of having her schools either blown up or burned down.

It was still early in the afternoon when Buffy and Dawn got in the Mercedes with both grandparents and drove back to Sunnydale with them. Grandpa had explained that he had made a promise to talk about his journalistic experiences with the girls who were staying with Buffy and Dawn, and that he and Grandma would be back in two or three days. They seemed to be in a hurry to get back to Sunnydale while it was still light, and Mom seemed inexplicably anxious at their departure.

Mom was indescribably relieved when Grandma and Grandpa returned three days later, but both grandparents were rather sobered in their mood. Again, there was no discussion of why. Now that Grandpa had his own wheels back, he and Grandma moved into a suite at a much more upscale hotel a little further away, and they mentioned rethinking their plan to buy or build halfway between Glendale and Sunnydale, and were starting to look at homes and locations in and around Glendale.

A couple of weeks later, the news broke that there were increasingly intense seismic tremors in Sunnydale and that most of the residents were evacuating. Mom and both grandparents were openly worried but not surprised at the news, or at Buffy and Dawn's decision to stay in Sunnydale with their friends. Not long after that, it was reported that power and phone lines had been shut down in the town, with no new word from the Summers girls. It was that dark cloud that had been hanging over the family when Colette hit her game-winning home run. But the cheerful squeals of two dozen pre-teen girls and their families as they crowded the dining area of that ice cream parlor, had made the worries disappear.

That is, for a few brief minutes. The end came with a scream of "Whoa!" followed some more shouting, unintelligible through the din of the celebration from a boy in a group of older teenagers at a booth at the far end of the parlor, who weren't even part of the celebration. Then the boy stood on his seat as a wave of silence rippled out across the room and all heads turned toward him. He pressed the headphones of his Walkman closer to his ears for a few seconds before announcing: "There's been a big earthquake in Sunnydale! The whole town's collapsed into a sinkhole!"

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED!**


	2. Chapter 2

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 2

Buffy Summers stood near the edge of the enormous crater where the city of Sunnydale had stood until a few minutes before. As the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign tottered at the very edge and then fell in, she realized numbly that perhaps Spike's departing soul- the very same soul he had struggled and fought to get back, specifically for her- had knocked it over on his way out of town, as a final farewell.

"You're not the one and only Chosen anymore," Faith told her. "Just gotta live like a person. How's that feel?"

"Yeah, Buffy," Dawn said. "What _are_ we going to do now?"

_Not the one and only Chosen anymore._ The thought brought a bittersweet smile to her face. After seven years, the weight of the world had finally lifted off her shoulders. Or at least had started to be distributed among several other Chosen ones. She could let go.

But letting go also caused her emotional barriers to collapse; in addition, the fact that she had just run along rooftops and leapt from building to building for at least a half mile to catch up to a speeding schoolbus, after having her abdomen run through with a literal broadsword from Hell, caught up to her. She burst into tears and collapsed into the arms of the person closest to her proximally, physically and emotionally; Dawn's knees buckled momentarily under the sudden weight of her sister, but she quickly straightened up and held her tight, and then the two people next closest to her, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, joined in holding and comforting Buffy.

"It's okay, Buffy," Dawn whispered. "It's over." And then the reality of their losses hit her too. She knew that both Spike and Anya had failed to escape the collapsing Hellmouth, as well as Amanda, the only Sunnydale native and her closest friend among the other Slayers. The home they had lived in for the past seven years, their mother's grave, everything they'd owned that they weren't wearing or carrying with them, was at the bottom of that crater. Dawn instantly regretted her flippant remark about fighting on the wrong side because they'd destroyed the Sunnydale Mall, and joined in Buffy's loud sobbing. And she knew better than to ask Buffy if it was "happy crying".

Rupert Giles stepped in and joined the group hug, reaching in and stroking Buffy on the back and kissing her on the forehead. The very fact that he was doing this indicated to the others that this was something different, that things perhaps would never be the same.

Buffy looked around, searching among the faces of her sister and closest friends and the others standing around the school bus. They'd gone into the Hellmouth with thirty three Potentials and emerged with no more than a dozen.

"Anya," she whispered. "Where's Anya?"

"She didn't make it," Xander said with his voice cracking.

"Oh, God! I'm so sorry, Xander!" She hugged him as they cried into each other's shoulders.

"It wasn't your fault, Buffy," Xander tried to reassure her.

Giles stepped back from the huddle. He let the others just stand there and cry for as long as he could stand it- which was for about two minutes- then gently prodded them toward the bus. "We need to go. Wood and several of the others need to get to the hospital."

The others nodded and moved toward the bus, still sobbing occasionally. As Giles and Xander started to boost the others up to the rear bumper and open rear door, they all heard the sound of another vehicle approaching from the front and then stepped around to the left side of the bus to look. Speeding up the oncoming lane of the highway was a green Army Humvee. After it braked to a halt alongside the bus, four soldiers in woodland BDUs, helmets and web gear, with M-16s slung on their shoulders, stepped out. The one who had been in the front passenger seat approached Giles.

"Captain Kranich, California Army National Guard," he introduced himself. "Can we be of assistance?"

"Yes," Giles nodded. "We have a number of injured on the bus. One man with a severe sta- puncture wound in the abdomen, a couple with what appear to be concussions, a few others with severe cuts."

"Are you all right, Miss?" Captain Kranich squinted at the bloody cuts on both the front and back of Buffy's blouse where she'd been skewered by one of the Ubervamps.

"It looks worse than it is," Buffy reassured him; although her quick-healing Slayer power made that true, she was still feeling the loss of blood. "The others on the bus are worse off than me."

Captain Kranich walked around the front and stepped up the side entrance of the bus and took in the scene. Robin Wood was now laid out flat in the aisle, barely conscious with Faith and Vi tending to his wounds; Chao Ahn had lapsed into unconsciousness in her seat and Rona was barely managing to keep from doing so herself. Kranich took a headcount, stepped back out and went back to the Humvee. Buffy, Giles, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Andrew stood around as he reached for the hand mike to his radio.

"Delta Six Two, this is Yankee Seven Niner, over," he called.

"Go ahead, Yankee Seven Niner," a voice replied on the radio speaker.

"I'm at the edge of the crater on Highway Five Seven. We have a school bus with twenty survivors, some of them wounded. We're gonna need a Dustoff for about five or six patients, including one with a severe gut wound and two with head injuries. Over."

"Roger," the voice replied. "Dustoff for five or six wounded including gut wound and head injuries. Over."

Kranich pulled out a handheld GPS monitor from his cargo pocket, then gave their coordinates. The voice at the operations center read them back for confirmation.

"Medevac helicopter's on the way," Kranich told Buffy and her companions. "Were there any other survivors you were aware of that might have made it out?"

"As far as I know, we were the last ones left in town," Giles replied.

"That's what I'm assuming," Kranich nodded. "To tell you the truth, I was surprised there was anyone left in town. We came in Thursday after the Power Company shut down and have been patrolling the streets, and haven't seen anyone."

"Yes," Giles nodded. "The Seismology Department wanted us to keep getting the readings to the last possible moment, and I'm afraid we cut it too close."

"You should've checked in with us when we arrived."

"Sorry, Captain," Giles said dryly. "No offense, nothing personal, but you would have tried to force us out of town, and I really wasn't looking forward to precipitating a shoving contest up at the State Capitol between the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Adjutant General."

"Got a point there," Kranich shrugged. "You didn't lose any people, did you?"

"No," Giles said quickly. It was one more boldface lie on top of the first ones, but one that they couldn't afford not to tell.

It wasn't more than a couple of minutes later that the reverberant muttering of a helicopter in flight could be heard. Echoes off the bottom and far side of the crater made its source hard to place, but before long, a dot became visible in the sky a few miles down the highway, and it grew into a Blackhawk helicopter. Soon it was close enough for them to notice the red cross on the nosecone, and it touched down on the highway, close enough so that the bus and Humvee were just outside the arc of its rotor blades.

Six medics in nomex flight suits jumped out carrying collapsible canvas litters and aid bags and, at Captain Kranich's direction, went into the bus by the side entrance. After a few minutes of working on the injured, they carried Robin, Chao Ahn and Rona on litters out the open rear door, and were followed by Julianna, one of the more recently arrived Slayers, whose head and one arm were now bandaged but still bleeding, and Tracie, who had a long bandage across her ribcage. Faith walked alongside Robin's litter holding up a plasma bag with an IV tube that ran into his arm.

"I'm going with them!" she shouted to Giles and the others over the idling helicopter engine. "They're taking them to St. Francis Hospital in Ventura!"

"All right," Giles shouted back. "We'll catch up to you there!"

The medics carried the three litter-borne wounded into the Blackhawk while other crewmen assisted the three other Slayers aboard. After they were strapped in, the helicopter engine powered up and it lifted off, kicking up a small dust storm as it turned around and headed back in the direction it had come from.

"You folks going to be okay?" Captain Kranich asked as the helicopter noises diminished.

"We should be able to make it to Ventura," Giles nodded. "Thanks so much for the help!"

"Glad we could help." As Kranich stepped back to the Humvee and reached for his radio mike, they piled into the bus. As she stood in the open rear doorway, Buffy made sure Kranich and the other Guardsmen had their backs to them before reaching for the Scythe where she'd left it on the roof.

"Okay," Xander put up his cheerful front as the bus doors were closed, "since Robin's on the chopper, who's gonna drive this big boy? Let's see. We've got the one-eyed ex-carpenter with no depth perception, the Englishman who let his California license expire, the witch who's still woozy after sending her Slayer-activating mojo all over the world, the Slayer who's trying to pretend she's not about to keel over after being shish-kebabed and who routinely jumps curbs and knocks over mailboxes when she's perfectly healthy and sober, or the sixteen year old with the provisional license who's not supposed to be driving other teenagers around!"

Giles rolled his eyes. "I'll drive, Xander. If we get pulled over, I'll tell them I lost my license in the crater. I believe an entire city disappearing into a crater constitutes enough of an emergency for them to let me slide."

"All yours, G-man!" Xander stepped aside and let Giles pass him in the aisle. As Giles took the driver's seat and started the engine, he joined Willow in the back row of seats with Buffy and Dawn across the aisle from them. The four of them knelt on top of the seats looking out the back windows as Giles threw the bus in gear. In the next seat forward from Xander and Willow, Andrew- the only other Sunnydale permanent resident on the bus- did the same. None of them could see that Giles was nearly as thoughtfully fixated on the crater in his rearview mirrors.

The road out of town was a straight, flat stretch that ran through the desert for several miles before rising up over a gently sloping ridge, so the enormous crater stayed in view, diminishing in apparent size at a very slow rate, for nearly twenty minutes. In that time, there were several sniffles and occasional sobs from the five erstwhile Sunnydale residents in the rear, and otherwise dead silence aboard the bus. The two Summers sisters put their arms around each other for mutual comfort, and Willow and Xander did the same with Willow resting her head on Xander's shoulder. A few rows forward, Kennedy looked at the two of them with a hint of jealousy but said nothing. She knew she would never be part of that inner circle.

* * *

It was relatively quiet in the Emergency Room at St. Francis Hospital by the time they got there; the staff had been expecting many more casualties from the "earthquake" in Sunnydale, even though the city had been almost completely evacuated. The triage team at the entrance almost breathed a sigh of relief as the half-dozen new Slayers with minor cuts and bruises came in with Giles, who reassured the team that these were likely the last casualties to be coming in. The remaining new Slayers, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Andrew brought up the rear.

As Buffy saw the triage team looking the wounded Slayers over, she scanned around anxiously, then grabbed Dawn by the elbow and pulled her into the women's lavatory nearest the entrance.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Here's where our being able to borrow each other's clothes all the time pays off!" Buffy said. "Let's swap tops!"

Dawn thought for a second, looking at the bloody cuts on her sister's top, then nodded. "I get it!" As the two sisters peeled off their blouses, they both looked at Buffy's wounds, the bleeding from which was down to trickles.

"Score one for quick-healing Slayer powers!" Buffy smiled.

"So how come the others aren't healing up like this?"

"Don't know. Good question."

They emerged with Buffy wearing Dawn's charcoal top and Dawn wearing Buffy's bloodstained tan peasant blouse. As they took seats in the waiting area with the triage team members looking over the injured new arrivals, one team member noticed them and approached Dawn.

"Do you need help, Miss? That looks pretty serious."

"Oh, no," Dawn smiled quickly, pulling up the blouse to expose her midsection. "It's not my blood."

The newly arrived wounded were taken to various treatment bays in the ER. The uninjured and Buffy looked up at a TV in the waiting room and saw that, not surprisingly, regular programming had been interrupted by coverage of the Sunnydale quake. A FEMA spokesperson, a National Guard colonel and a US Geological Survey representative were interviewed successively; they indicated that while the entire city of Sunnydale had fallen into a sinkhole about 150 feet at its deepest point, there had been no reported loss of life. There were some injuries among a seismology team from UC Sunnydale who had stayed until the last possible second, while the Guard troops patrolling the city had escaped with no casualties. The Geological Survey member commented that while there has never been a statistically significant correlation of small tremors predicting large quakes, it was uncannily fortunate that the municipal government and residents of Sunnydale had unilaterally decided to evacuate the town over a series of tremors that barely registered on the seismographs. The camera then returned to the FEMA spokesperson, who added that the fact that this quake had been anticipated by the Sunnydale residents precluded the likelihood that this was an act of terrorism.

"We should call Grandma and Grandpa," Dawn said to Buffy. "I'm sure they're worried."

"And Dad." Buffy nodded.

"Well, Dad can wait," Dawn said with a hint of bitterness. "We waited for seven months to hear from him after Mom died."

"_You_ waited for seven months. I was dead for a good part of that, and apparently being impersonated by Spike's former sex toy," Buffy replied, managing a thin smile even though this was bringing back memories of what was arguably the most painful part of both their lives. "But you're right. Dad probably assumes we evacuated with the rest of the town. But Grandma and Grandpa will definitely be worried since they know the whole story."

"I'll call," Dawn said as she started to stand. "I left the cell phones on the bus"

"Wait!" Buffy held her wrist and motioned for her to sit back down. "You have your cell phone?"

"Cell _phones_. Yours, Willow's and Xander's too. And our wallets, except for Xander's which he has. I had them in my weapons bag. It was the last thing I grabbed on the way out of the high school with Xander."

"We went to fight the First Evil and its Ubervamps at the Hellmouth, and you took all our cell phones and wallets with you?" Buffy mused. "Dawnie, you're a lifesaver!"

"Drivers licenses, passports, school ID, credit cards and ATM cards," Dawn nodded, then shot a glance at Willow sitting with Xander on Buffy's other side. "I never leave home without mine. Not since Willow did that kerflooey amnesia spell and you and I ended up being Joan and Umad!"

"Hey!" Willow interjected with mock indignation, "You keep bringing that up, and I'm gonna tell your grandmother you said her name was 'so blah!'"

"Yes!" Buffy taunted. "You 'Uck!'-ed Grandma's name! I'm telling!"

"Hey!" Dawn gestured toward Willow, "We were all under _your_ amnesia spell! There's no way I could've remembered that Joan was Grandma's name!"

"_I_ did," Buffy said smugly. "At least on a subconscious level, if I named myself after her."

"Nuh uh!" Dawn shot back. "You said you _felt_ like a Joan. You were having this young-female-warrior-martyr Joan of Arc complex thing!"

"Whatever. But you still 'Uck!'-ed the name Joan."

Faith then entered the ER waiting room from an interior hallway and spotted them.

"Robin and Tracie are in surgery," she told them. "Chao Ahn's in ICU, still unconscious, Rona and Julianna are being kept for observation."

"Everyone else who's been seriously hurt is being tended to," Buffy said.

"Well," Dawn said, "while we're waiting, I may as well get the phones."

* * *

Except for the sounds of the TV, which was still covering the news of the earthquake and sinkhole, there was a tense, stony silence throughout the McDade home. Carl Kolchak sat on the couch holding Joan's hand, trying his best to comfort her while knowing as well as she did what could have happened to their granddaughters in Sunnydale. Their daughter Polly knew what was going on, while son-in-law Matt and their kids had some vague, half-disbelieved suspicions about what _might_ be happening to Buffy and Dawn and their friends. There was a flash of hope at the word of a busload of survivors getting out of Sunnydale. The hopes dimmed somewhat when it was reported that the survivors were from a seismology team; Carl said nothing, but knew that being a seismology team was just the kind of cover story that Rupert Giles would make up.

Everyone started when the cell phone rang inside the jacket pocket of Carl's seersucker suit. All eyes turned to him as he pulled it out and looked at the Caller ID. He tensed up as he read: "Summers D".

"Hello. Dawnie?" he said.

"Grandpa!" Dawn's voice replied.

"Are you all right, Sweetheart? Where are you?"

"I'm okay, Grandpa. Buffy got hurt but she's healing real fast, she's right here. She didn't even bother to see a doctor."

"Thank God!" Carl sighed, then turned to the rest of the family. "Dawn and Buffy are okay." They sighed with relief, and he said back on the phone: "Everyone else make it out okay? Where are you?"

"We're at a hospital in Ventura," Dawn replied, then her voice became more tremulous. "We lost Spike and Anya, and over twenty of the Potentials including my friend Amanda."

"I'm so sorry, Dawnie!" Carl shut his eyes momentarily. He'd gotten to know Anya and most of the Potentials, but he was feeling the loss of Spike above all the others; over three decades earlier, a soul-less and pre-chip Spike, a.k.a. William the Bloody, and a much younger Kolchak the Night Stalker had tried to kill each other at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. But like opposing warriors years after the end of their war, upon their reunion a few weeks ago they found themselves sharing a special bond, made even stronger by the fact that it was Spike's feelings for Kolchak's newfound granddaughter that had sent him on his torturous quest to regain his soul. Spike and Buffy may not have described themselves as being in love, but the old man knew that it was at least something very close to it. "How did you get to Ventura?" he said after he was able to continue. "Do you have transportation?"

"Yeah. We got out in a school bus."

"Why don't you all come down here? How many of you are there?"

"Twenty in all, but at least five are staying in the hospital," Dawn replied.

"Can the rest of you come down here to Glendale? Your Grandma and I have a suite with a second bedroom that you and Buffy can have, and we'll see about other vacancies in the hotel."

"I'd like that, Grandpa." Dawn's voice began to tremble. "I guess that's up to Buffy and Giles."

"Can you put Buffy on?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. She's right here."

"Hi, Grandpa!" Buffy's voice came up a second later, steadier than Dawn's but sounding very tired.

"Buffy, are you all right? Dawnie says you got hurt."

"Got a sword through my gut, but it's healing."

Carl winced. The fact that she was the Slayer didn't make it any less painful hearing his granddaughter tell him that. "Buffy, Dawn just told me about Spike and Anya. I'm so sorry."

"Me too."

"Spike was my friend too."

"I know, Grandpa."

Carl wanted to ask what happened but could tell that Buffy wasn't in any mood to talk about it. "Buffy, why don't you and Dawn and the others come down here to Glendale?"

"Sounds like a good idea, Grandpa. I'll ask Giles."

"Is he around?" Carl asked. "Let me talk to him."

In the ER waiting room, Buffy handed the cell phone over to Giles. "Grandpa wants to talk to you."

"Hello, Carl."

"Giles, how are you?"

"I got through pretty well unscathed," Giles replied. "I'm one of the luckier ones."

"What the hell happened?"

"It was a costly but brilliant idea of Buffy's actually," Giles said, stepping away from the others and keeping his voice barely above a whisper. "We figured out how to empower all the Potentials in the world, turn them all into Slayers, then the ones who were with us did a preemptive raid into the Hellmouth."

Carl shot a quick but knowing glance at Colette who was sitting on the floor next to her siblings. "I see. Apparently it worked."

"Not exactly. It's a rather long story. I'll give you the details the next time I see you."

"Speaking of which, I was suggesting to Buffy and Dawn that all of you come down here to Glendale. I'll see about vacancies at the hotel where Joan and I are staying."

"Actually, that may be our only viable option, Carl. I started asking around, and it seems that a rather large part of the population of Sunnydale ended up here in Ventura after the exodus. Hotel room vacancies are rather scarce here."

"It's settled then. We're at the Harwood Terrace, Room 802. Near the Harwood Avenue exit on Highway 143. Actually we're at Buffy and Dawn's aunt's house right now, but we'll be at the hotel by the time you get there."

"Don't know when _we'll_ get there, though. We're not sure how many of our wounded will be staying here yet."

"Call and let us know just before you leave," Carl said.

"I'll do that, Carl."

"Thanks. Giles. Could you put Buffy and Dawn back on? Joan and Polly are anxious to talk to them."

Carl muted the phone as he turned to his wife and daughter. "Spike and Anya didn't make it," he said grimly. "I don't know any more details, and I don't think either of the girls are ready to talk about it."

Pauline had overheard Carl mentioning the loss earlier and was already crying, feeling the pain almost as much as her father. Spike had, after all, helped Dawn and Buffy save her life the last time she was in Sunnydale.

In the ER in Ventura, as Dawn took her cell phone back from Giles and she and Buffy exchanged words of comfort and reassurance with their grandmother and aunt, Faith put her hand on Giles' shoulder.

"I want to stay here with Robin and the girls that are being admitted," she told him.

"That would probably be a good idea, if we can find you a room here in Ventura," Giles nodded. "I have a feeling that with their Slayer powers activated, some of the girls will be having what the staff here will consider miraculous recoveries over the next few days. In the meantime, the rest of us are going on to Buffy's and Dawn's grandparents in Glendale."

"Oh, yeah," Faith nodded. "The other gals told me about them. Grandpa's some old guy who was a reporter turned vamp-hunter back in the sixties and seventies, then struck it rich when they made his papers into a TV show. Way before my time."

"That's right."

"And he worked for the Council, too, right?"

"As a part-time consultant," Giles nodded. "As an American, he was hardly an insider."

"Big surprise," Faith nodded sarcastically, "considering the way those jerks treated B."

"Actually," Giles replied, "the Council never realized they were related. Carl's wife took Joyce and her sister away from him and changed their last name right after he killed his first vampire."

"So it turns out vamp-hunting is the family business," Faith mused.

"Yes," Giles nodded. "Seems to be more than just a coincidence as to why she was Chosen."

"And why the Brat grew up to be such an ass-kicker _without_ being chosen," Faith shot a glance toward Dawn.

"Yes, well, I've got my own theory about that. It might not be wise to let her hear you call her 'the Brat'!"

Faith frowned and raised her eyebrows.

* * *

"How's this for irony?" Buffy mused as she and Dawn took back their drivers licenses and passports and handed the forms they had just signed to the bank officer. "I struggle for a year and a half to make ends meet, slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace and then counseling part-time, then our filthy rich Grandpa- who we didn't even know was still alive- shows up and gives us a half million dollars each, just as we get into a situation where money meant nothing!"

"I rather think of it as an object lesson in what really matters in life, more than irony," Giles said in his usual dry manner, sitting beside the two sisters. As he said so, the bank officer left the desk and stepped over to the vault.

"Well, the money means something now," Dawn said. "It's just now sinking in that I'm half a millionaire!"

"No, it started sinking in for you a couple of weeks ago when you started shopping around for a Mercedes like Grandpa's!" Buffy replied, half teasingly, "Which, if you had gone ahead with it, would be buried at the bottom of the crater with everything else we owned!"

"Well, it's good to know that we're putting up the cash for everyone's new needs and it's barely putting a dent in what we have in the bank."

"And I assure you," Giles said, "that the Council will be good for the reimbursement. As soon as the waiting period for unfreezing its assets passes. And Buffy, once we establish the fair living allowance for each Slayer, you'll be getting seven years worth retroactive."

"Giles, that's not even on my radar right now," Buffy replied.

* * *

They returned to the bus with Dawn carrying a zippered canvas money bag.

"Listen up, everyone!" Giles called out, and everyone else silenced. "We're going to the Wal-Mart up the street. Dawn and Buffy are going to hand out four hundred dollars to each of you. That should be enough to buy everyone his or her own basic necessities, a few changes of clothing, underwear, shoes, outerwear, toiletries."

Author's note: yes, I know there's no Wal-Mart in Ventura. I also know there's also no Highway 143 or Harwood Avenue or Harwood Terrace Hotel in Glendale. This is fiction!

An hour and a half later, the Sunnydale entourage emerged from the Wal-Mart. They had drawn a lot of strange looks and whispers from the other shoppers and the store employees, particularly those wearing bandages and/or bloody clothing; Dawn in particular drew a lot of attention until she and Buffy slipped into a dressing room in Women's Wear and swapped back to their original tops, and then most of the attention shifted back to Buffy. The stares and whispers heightened as the entourage went through the checkout and congregated at the front of the store, but when Giles left them and then drove up to the door in the bus with "SUNNYDALE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT" on its sides, the whispers suddenly turned into a stunned, awed, almost reverent silence and stillness.

They all got back on the bus, and Giles turned back and went the short distance to one of the pricier motels, a few blocks from the hospital. Giles stopped in the parking lot a distance from the main entrance as Faith stepped forward to the front exit.

"It's the only vacant suite we could find," Giles told her. "Rather upscale, but the money Buffy and Dawn gave you should be more than enough to cover the rental until we can come back for you, plus the expenses for Wood and the girls when they get discharged."

"Thanks," Faith said, then turned to the two Summers sisters who were now in the seat directly behind Giles. "Thanks, B. Thanks... Dawnie."

Dawn raised her eyebrows at Faith's use of her diminutive nickname as Buffy gave Faith a quick hug, and then Dawn did the same. "Take care, Faith," Dawn said.

"We'll be back soon," Buffy said. "Keep us posted on Robin and the girls. You have our cell phone numbers, right?"

"Yeah," Faith nodded.

"You keep a low profile," Giles cautioned her. "You _are_ still an escaped convict."

"Like I have to be reminded?" Faith rolled her eyes back.

"Let me work on that," Giles said with an attempt at reassurance. "There may be an opportunity here with the collapse of Sunnydale. If we can somehow convince the state that you were buried in the crater, they'll stop looking for you. And we'll work on creating a new identity for you."

"Oh!" Buffy said, half serious, half sarcastic. "You should talk to our grandma about that!"

"Yeah!" Dawn added. "Grandma, AKA Mrs. Carl Kolchak, AKA Mrs. Kirk Wilson! She pulled it off for forty-one years."

"And would have kept right on pulling it off if Grandpa hadn't come back in the picture!" Buffy smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind," Faith nodded.

"Anyway, the suite is reserved under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Robin Wood," Giles said.

"Hey, not so fast!" Faith laughed, then turned and waved to the others further rearward. "Later, guys!"

The others shouted back their goodbyes. Giles closed the bus door behind her, but waited until she was inside the hotel lobby before driving off and heading back toward the freeway.

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED!**

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 3

It was approaching sunset as Giles turned the bus into the parking lot of the Harwood Terrace hotel and found his way to the bus parking area. The others on the bus had spent the trip packing their newly purchased belongings into newly purchased luggage, and were now trudging them to the front exit. Buffy had bought an extra-long soft-sided roller suitcase and had the scythe tucked snugly inside it as she was the first one off the bus, with Dawn right behind. They'd never been to this new eight story hotel with its luxuriant garden at the front, but seeing both grandparents standing under the front awning gave both sisters a feeling of being home. Dawn broke into a trot toward Carl and Joan; Buffy tried to keep up but, between the roller suitcase and her still feeling the effects of her wounds, came up a couple of steps later. The two sisters exchanged a tight squeeze and a kiss with each grandparent as Willow, Xander, Andrew and the new Slayers followed from the bus with Giles bringing up the rear.

"Buffy, are you sure you're all right?" Joan indicated the bloodstains on her blouse. "That looks terrible!"

"Nothing that a long hot shower and a good night's sleep won't fix, Grandma," Buffy tried to reassure her. "The quick-healing Slayer thing. I've been through worse, believe me!"

Joan stroked Buffy's hair and then rested a hand on her cheek. "Yes, Sweetheart. But dying from jumping off a tower and being resurrected doesn't really count!"

The Kolchaks exchanged embraces with Willow and Xander, then a handshake with Andrew.

"Glad to see you, Giles!" Carl said as he gave him a firm handshake and a quick hug, then smiled as he turned to Joan. "I understand you two already know each other."

"Yes," Giles smiled warmly as he clasped her hand in both of his, recalling that the last time he'd seen her was at Joyce's funeral over two years earlier. "It's been a while. Good to see you again, Mrs. Wilson. Or is it Mrs. Kolchak now?"

"It always has been Mrs. Kolchak, deep down inside, but it's about time you started calling me Joan," she smiled back. "Rupert, all these years I thought you were this eccentric school librarian who had this overly excessive and unhealthy familiarity with my daughter and granddaughters. If only I'd known that you knew my husband and were in the same general line of work he was in!"

"Well," Giles replied, "if only _I'd_ known who your husband really was..."

They all entered the lobby where Carl had already set things up with the front desk. One clerk gave Buffy and Dawn each an electronic key card to the Kolchaks' suite; it happened that the other two-bedroom suite on the eighth floor across the hall was vacant, and was given to Giles, Xander and Andrew. Willow and Kennedy were given a room a couple of doors down, and the remaining Slayers were paired up and given rooms on the seventh or eighth floors.

There was a sense of surrealism among the Sunnydale survivors, checking into this hotel with its chandeliered, hardwood paneled and mirrored lobby and hallways only hours after fighting a horde of Ubervamps to the death at the Hellmouth. Giles recalled the quote by Theodore Roosevelt about being in the Arena, marred with dust and sweat and blood; they all certainly qualified for that, but seemed rather out of place in such luxury and cleanliness. After the ride up the mirrored elevator, Buffy and Dawn followed their grandparents into their suite, their sense of surrealism and incongruousness continuing.

Joan opened the door to the unused bedroom and ushered her granddaughters in. "This is your room for now," she smiled as Buffy and Dawn plopped down their luggage. It was a large room with a king-sized bed, a picture window overlooking a nearby golf course, and a widescreen TV. "Oh!" Joan added, "Before I forget, your dad called at Aunt Polly's while we were there, asking if we knew whether the two of you were all right. She promised she'd have you call him back tomorrow."

"Good," Buffy said as she sat wearily on the edge of the bed and pulled off her boots. "Tonight's not a good time." She eyed the open door to the adjoining bathroom. "Right now all I want is a long hot bath."

"Me too," Dawn nodded, "but since I'm not the one who became a human shish-kebab, you can go first."

"Actually," their grandmother said, "each bedroom has its own bath. One of you can use ours."

Buffy took her time soaking in the tub and washing her hair. After toweling herself, she took some peroxide, Neosporin, bandage tape and gauze she'd purchased, and cleaned off, treated and bandaged the wound on her belly. It had stopped bleeding and no longer opened into her abdominal cavity, appearing to be an open but shallow cut. She opened the door and stuck her head into the bedroom to see the last sliver of red sun sinking below the horizon. Dawn was sitting on the bed, in one of the hotel's white bathrobes with her hair wrapped in a towel. She was watching the news on TV, which was still covering the Sunnydale earthquake almost exclusively and becoming repetitive.

"Good," Buffy said. "You're done. I need a hand with my back wound. Can't reach it." She handed Dawn the first aid medicines and bandage materials, then sat on the edge of the bed with her back to her and lowered the towel she'd wrapped herself in.

"Looks like it's down to a flesh wound," Dawn remarked as she wiped it with peroxide. "Better watch what you eat the next few days though. You know, soft foods, just in case your guts aren't completely healed."

"I... I don't have much of an appetite anyway."

Dawn squeezed some Neosporin onto the wound and bandaged it. "We've come a long way from the old days. You know, when you used to hide your wounds from Mom and me."

"Yeah, we have, Dawnie," Buffy smiled nostalgically and sniffled. "That one time with Riley, after I got stabbed by my own stake and you told Mom the alcohol smell was from your nail polish. That was a big turning point in our relationship."

"I remember."

There was a knock on the door. "Girls," Joan called out, "Grandpa and I were able to reserve one of the banquet rooms so everyone can eat in private. We can go downstairs for dinner as soon as you're ready."

"Thanks, Grandma," the sisters chorused.

* * *

The Sunnydale entourage had gathered in the eighth floor hallway and took the elevators down together. Like Buffy and Dawn, they had dressed simply and casually from their newly purchased wardrobes, mostly wearing T-shirts, jeans or shorts, and flip-flops or sneakers. Even Giles was wearing a golf shirt, khakis and deck shoes.

The restaurant had a buffet offering that evening, and Carl had already paid for everyone's meals. As the entourage entered the private banquet room, everyone noticed that Vi, Kennedy and a couple of the other new Slayers were carrying their swords, axes or crossbows into the room and placing them by their seats before going back into the main dining room for the food.

"What's with the weapons?" Dawn asked Vi.

"Just being a little superstitious," she smiled. "No offense to your grandpa, but some of us remember the last time he treated all of us to a fancy buffet dinner."

Dawn smiled back. That was the night after they'd gotten back the DNA test results that confirmed that she and Buffy actually were the granddaughters of Carl Kolchak. There had been a big celebration, interrupted first by the arrival of Grandma and Aunt Polly after Grandma had called, and Andrew answered the phone and let it slip that Carl Kolchak had shown up and entered their lives. The celebration was interrupted again when over a dozen of the Bringers of the First Evil burst into the house and a donnybrook of a fight ensued. They'd come to kidnap Carl and his descendants- Buffy, Dawn and Aunt Polly- to try to open a second Hellmouth seal in a cave several feet below the Seal of Danzalthar that they had started to open with Carl's blood before he'd managed to escape, over thirty years earlier. The Bringers had succeeded in dragging away a terrified Aunt Polly, but Dawn let herself also get kidnapped in order to rescue her. She'd managed to kill four of the Bringers in the cave, allowing Aunt Polly to escape before Dawn got slashed in the abdomen herself. Then in a million to one fluke of being both the Interdimensional Key and the granddaughter of the person whose blood they had last used to try to open the seal, Dawn bled on top of the seal and ended up making it disappear; as Giles pointed out later, keys can lock up as well as unlock portals.

There were several large round tables in the banquet room, but as the entourage members returned from the buffet with their plates, they immediately polarized into two groups, with the new Slayers segregating themselves and sitting at one table while the Scooby Gang and the Kolchaks sat at the next table. The segregation had been completely spontaneous and voluntary; Willow had actually set aside a seat next to her for Kennedy at the Scooby table, but after a second of eye contact, Kennedy sat with the other Slayers. Willow was neither surprised nor seriously hurt by this.

The polarization wasn't one of "leadership vs rank-and-file", or even "the old folks vs the young folks" although Dawn and Kennedy were the only age overlap of the two groups. As the new Slayers sat down, they became much more excited and chatty, with Kennedy and Vi the most vocal. It had been hours now, but they were still wired over their new powers, their exhilaration at having gone into the Hellmouth, actually slaying several Ubervamps on their own turf and then coming out alive. The exhilaration actually overshadowed the loss of so many of their friends and peers, and it was that aspect in particular which was beginning to bother Giles at the other table. He stood and cleared his throat loudly, but the chatter persisted. He rapped a fork against his water goblet repeatedly with increasing loudness to no effect.

"Ladies!" he called out sharply, and finally got their silence. He glanced over to Buffy and Xander, who were sitting next to each other between Dawn and Willow, then continued, "Shall we have a moment of silence, and prayer if you so choose, in memory of those friends whom we lost today?"

The others at his table linked hands, Dawn holding hands with Carl, who held Joan's. Giles took Joan's other hand and grasped that of Andrew, who then reached across two empty chairs- even though one had originally been intended as Kennedy's, they now suddenly served a deeper symbolic purpose- and held Willow's hand, completing the circle. There was audible sniffling from most of the others at that table, most loudly from the two sisters and from Xander. There were also some sniffles from the Slayers at the other table, but they weren't as conspicuous.

"Thank you," Giles said after several seconds. The Slayer table was slightly more subdued, but the girls picked up where they were interrupted in their conversation.

The Scooby table ate in almost total silence, with Xander and Buffy actually eating very little. Buffy confined her meal to a cup of soup and small portions of Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, heeding Dawn's advice about being careful about her gut wounds.

Although she too was feeling the loss of Spike and Anya and the other Slayers, Dawn found herself with a somewhat better appetite than her sister and the other Scoobies. She guiltily began to wonder why. Her relationship with Anya had always had its frictions, but they had been part of each others' lives since Anya became involved with Xander. Her relationship with Spike had cooled off after she learned that he'd tried to rape Buffy, to the extent that Dawn had threatened to set him on fire while he slept if he ever tried it again. But Spike had, for most of the time they'd known each other, and especially between Buffy's death and resurrection, been her protector, and toward the end she had begun to see the more than superficial changes in him as Buffy had. She'd lived in close quarters, at times sharing her bedroom, with all the Potentials who hadn't come out of the Hellmouth with Buffy and the other survivors; Amanda had been a casual friend and classmate before her discovery as a Potential, and was particularly close. Dawn wondered whether all the losses she'd suffered her young life- Dad moving out, moving from LA to Sunnydale, Mom dying, Buffy dying (albeit then getting resurrected by Willow), then Tara dying, then her friend Cassie- had desensitized her to loss. But she also recognized that a part of her was feeling the same exhilaration that the girls at the other table did. Not that she wanted to go over and join them. She knew she belonged at this table with Buffy and their extended family, and besides, she knew the other Slayers might not welcome her.

_The _other_ Slayers!_ Dawn smiled to herself. _They don't know!_ She glanced to either side of her and found it fitting that she was sitting between Buffy and Grandpa. _It's still just the three of us who know! We've managed to keep the secret all this time!_ Then she thought, _Of course, with all that business with Xander and the chloroform, Buffy seemed to be pretending she didn't know._

* * *

The dinner had broken up fairly early and everyone returned upstairs, but few went to bed right away. Most of the Slayers were still wired and, even though they now finally had semiprivate sleeping arrangements after months crammed up at the Summers home or Xander's apartment, most of them congregated in Vi's room and continued to talk and blow off steam into the night.

Buffy found herself sitting with Xander and Willow on the living room couch in her family's suite. They sat quietly for a long time. Dawn returned to the suite with Carl and Joan; she was about to join her sister when she realized that this was a very private moment between Buffy and her two closest friends- a wake really- that even she would be an intrusion on. Dawn instead sat with Carl and Joan in their bedroom; she and Carl began reminiscing about Spike, Carl telling his wife and granddaughter all the details he could remember about his 1970 encounter with William the Bloody and Drusilla over the course of five days and nights during Mardi Gras week in New Orleans, when he and the two vamps traded positions between hunter and hunted. After Joan commented that Carl's description hardly matched the aloof but roguishly charming fellow she had known only briefly, but who was obviously a loving protector to both her granddaughters, Dawn in turn shared everything with her grandparents from her perspective about Spike's transformation from the same sadistic killer but still worthy opponent Carl had fought to a draw, through to his world-saving self-sacrifice that very morning.

When Dawn left her grandparents' bedroom, Buffy, Xander and Willow were laughing softly over a memory of one of Anya's many social gaffes, and she still felt uncomfortable with the idea of joining them. She gave them a quick "Good night, guys," and went to Buffy's and her bedroom.

But Dawn had trouble falling asleep, and was still more or less awake when Buffy came in over an hour later and started changing into her nightclothes without turning on the light.

"Buffy, you okay?"

"I guess. I'm exhausted, but still pretty wound up."

"Me too."

For as far back as they could remember, Buffy and Dawn had almost always guarded their personal spaces against each other, but there were also times when they chose to sleep in the same bed for mutual consolation and comfort, or to reaffirm their sisterly bond: they both slept with their mother for the first several nights after their father left them, and they slept together, among other occasions, after Dawn's aborted attempt at a resurrection spell after their mother died, and then when Buffy finally snapped out of her months-long depression after her own resurrection. So even though there was plenty of room in the king-sized bed, when Buffy got in, they automatically clung to each other.

"I miss him, Dawnie!" Buffy whispered brokenly.

"Me too," Dawn whispered back as she stroked her sister's hair.

"It took me all that time to admit to myself that I loved him, and to finally tell him, and now he's gone!"

"You told him that you loved him?" Dawn sniffled. "At least you had a chance to. I never did."

"But he told me he didn't believe me." Buffy sobbed. "I said 'I love you' to him and he said, 'No you don't, but thanks for saying it.'"

"He knew, Buffy. He knew you loved him. Maybe he knew the end was near, so he tried to convince you you didn't, just to spare you from the grief."

"It didn't work. It only makes it hurt more!... And I think you may be the only one who understands that, Dawn. Willow and Xander were never close to Spike, never really saw the good in him. They don't feel the loss... That was Anya's wake we were holding out in the living room, not Spike's."

"But at least you got to tell him you loved him. I never did. I think he died thinking I hated him."

"No. Maybe he was a little scared of you, but he knew you didn't hate him."

Dawn let out a short, muffled giggle of disbelief. "Spike was scared of _me_?"

"Something you said to him that night the first time he came to the house, after he got back from Africa. After he got his soul back."

"Oh," Dawn nodded to herself, remembering that she had threatened to set him on fire if he ever hurt Buffy again. "That was before we learned he got his soul back."

"Anyway, he loved you, Dawn. In a lot of ways, I envied you for what the two of you had between you. He and I may have been sleeping together, and we did love each other in our own strange, twisted ways, but what he felt for you was pure. I have no doubt about that."

"Buffy, in all my sixteen years, this is the first time I can remember you ever saying you envied _anything_ about me!"

"I do, Dawnie," Buffy sobbed. "I _still_ envy you for that. I really do!"

They clung tighter to each other, and then Dawn started rocking Buffy in her arms and softly humming _Early One Morning_. Yes, it was the song that The First had used to trigger Spike, but they also know that it was his favorite childhood song, the song his doting mother had used to comfort him. The two sisters then drifted off to sleep stroking each other's hair.

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED! _PLEASE!_ THIS STORY LOOKS KINDA NAKED WITHOUT THEM!**


	4. Chapter 4

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 4

As exhausted as she was, and as much as she tried to let go of things, Buffy slept fitfully and then finally got out of bed shortly before sunrise. She stepped out through the living room and opened the door to the hallway to pick up the hotel's complimentary copy of the _LA Times_. There was nothing on the front page that wasn't about the collapse of Sunnydale, so she tossed it on the coffee table and returned to the bedroom. She sat in an armchair by the picture window and turned on the TV, turning the volume to minimum so as not to awaken Dawn, and a quick surf of the hotel's entire cable system showed very little that again wasn't still covering the Sunnydale crater. She turned it off.

Dawn had managed to go back to sleep after she'd felt Buffy get out of bed, and then again after she'd turned on the TV. When Dawn awoke for good, she turned to see her sister sitting in the chair and staring out the window, past the golf course and at the horizon in the general direction of Sunnydale. She got out of bed and gave Buffy a gentle hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Good morning, Buffy."

"Good morning, Dawn," she smiled back. "Today's the first day of the rest of our lives."

"Yeah," Dawn nodded. She still felt a big dark hole inside her for Spike, for Anya, for Amanda and the other dead Slayers, and was sure Buffy did too, but she would let Buffy take the lead in the conversation.

"The first morning in over seven years that I woke up without the weight of the world on my shoulders alone. We've got at least a dozen already with us to share the load, and more out there."

_Good!_ Dawn thought. _If that's what she wants to focus on, instead of grieving. And I have just the thing to keep this conversation going down the track!_ "Buffy," she said tentatively, "I have to tell you something. I'm pretty sure my Slayery powers are back."

Buffy laughed. "Well, duh! Dawnie, I knew your powers were back when you kicked me in the shin the other night! Why do you think I paired you up with Xander in the Atrium? That was to protect _him_ with his blind spot and poor depth perception, not you!"

"You knew, and you didn't take me into the Hellmouth with Faith and the Potentials?" Dawn fumed.

"Dawn, if I didn't know that you would've just zapped him and come back to Sunnydale _again_, I would've sent the two of you away again. You're my little sister- Mom's baby- first, and the Key and somebody with Slayery powers second."

"Dumbass!" Dawn managed to smile as she kicked Buffy in the shin. She was barefoot instead of wearing pointy boots as she had been the last time, but she still managed to make Buffy feel it. "Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, I didn't get killed!"

"Did you even read the note I told Xander to give you?"

"Just the first couple of sentences."

"You still have it?"

"I threw it in the back seat of Xander's car right after I zapped him."

"So it's in Xander's car. In the crater with everything else that was in Sunnydale." Buffy sighed. "Well, apart from wanting to keep my promise to show you the world some day..."

"I read that part," Dawn nodded.

"Well, apart from that, I also explained that the night before Mom had her operation, when she knew that she might die, she made me promise her that if anything happened to her, I'd look after you and keep you safe. That promise came first. I did it for Mom."

Dawn's eyes misted. "Okay. But Mom never knew that I'd have Slayer powers too. She never knew her father was really Kolchak the Night Stalker. That slaying vampires and demons was part of _her_ own legacy."

"It wouldn't have made any difference, Dawn. Not in what she asked me to do or in what I tried to do."

"Speaking of which, why did you let Xander try to take me to his friends in Oxnard? Why not to Grandma and Grandp-" Dawn stopped, thought about it and smiled. "Because Grandpa being who he is, he would have grabbed his old stake, jumped in the car with us and made Xander turn around and go right back to Sunnydale. Stupid question!"

"You got it," Buffy nodded and smiled, "although the visual of seventy-something Kolchak the Night Stalker, still in his seersucker suit and straw hat, charging into the Hellmouth alongside his granddaughters and a bunch of other teenage girls... But he was right that first night in the cemetery after we met him. He _is_ too old for this crap!"

"And the torch _has_ been passed on to a new generation," Dawn smiled, a little sadly.

"Yes," Buffy nodded.

"Buffy, I understand what Mom would've wanted, and I'm not mad at you and Xander about the chloroform anymore. But I _was_ prepared to go into the Hellmouth with you."

"I know you were, Dawnie."

"If it ever came to it, I'd be willing to die fighting at your side like Tom Custer."

"Tom Whoster?"

"Tom Custer. George Armstrong Custer's younger brother. Been reading a little about him. He went off to join the Army and fight alongside his brother during the Civil War. Actually won two Congressional Medals of Honor in the Civil War. Stayed with his brother fighting the Indians afterward. Their bodies were found next to each other at the Little Bighorn. But since Armstrong was the one who graduated from West Point and was a general, nobody remembers Tom."

"I know I never heard of him," Buffy shrugged.

"They were about the same age difference as you and me. Five and a half years. They were our ages when they went off to fight in the Civil War."

"And yet up until last night, you were sleeping in a bed full of stuffed toy animals!" Buffy laughed.

"Hey! We're girls! And you still have- had Mr. Gordo! But we've seen our share of fighting too."

"True," Buffy nodded. "But Dawnie, I think we can stop comparing ourselves to General Custer and his brother getting killed by Indians. Like Giles said, we have a lot of work ahead of us- finding the other Slayers out there, rebuilding the Council- but we can also think about you finishing school, then when you're old enough, finding the right guy and getting married and having kids someday."

"Okay," Dawn smiled. "And Buffy, maybe I shouldn't even go there yet, but maybe the same can go for you, someday. You'll love again."

Buffy became misty-eyed again. "Yeah. Someday when I'm no longer just cookie dough, and I'm done baking and I'm cookies."

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Buffy said, then gave her sister a hug. "Okay. Let's make a pact. If and when that day ever comes, let's make sure that your kids and my kids are closer than you and I have been to Aunt Polly's kids."

"Okay," Dawn laughed softly as she hugged Buffy back. "But why do I get this feeling that sometime before any of us were born, Mom and Aunt Polly made the same kind of pact?"

"It's not too late for that, either," Buffy smiled as they separated. "Mending fences."

"I think we made a pretty good start to that the last time we were here in Glendale, when we brought Grandpa's car down."

"I think we caught 'em a little off guard, though," Buffy laughed. She paused thoughtfully, then said, "Dawn, I think it's time to tell Giles about your powers. The main reason I didn't want him to know was because of that rift we were having over Spike..." She blinked back tears and forced a smile. "Well, now that reason no longer exists. And now since he's trying to rebuild and reorganize the Council of Watchers, he needs to know so that he knows how best to use you."

"Okay," Dawn nodded, "but Buffy, please don't tell Xander about my powers. The morning after we found Amanda- after we'd thought I was the new Potential and then realized I wasn't- he gave me this long talk about how he thought I was so extraordinary, and how we had this bond because we were the only two members of the gang who didn't have any super powers. It'd break his heart and bruise his ego if he knew. And he's still grieving over Anya, and coping with the eye thing..."

Buffy smiled, then reached for the phone on the bedside table and dialed a four-digit room extension number. "Xander? Did I wake you?... Oh, good. Listen, could you please step over here to Dawn's and my room real quick? The main door's unlocked, so come right in. Thanks."

"Buffy, no!" Dawn gasped and turned white as her sister hung up.

"I'm not going to admit to him that I paired the two of you up for _his_ protection," Buffy smiled reassuringly. "However..."

It took only a few seconds before the door into the living area to the suite opened and Xander knocked on the bedroom door. "Buffy?"

"Come on in, Xander!"

Xander had obviously just gotten out of bed himself, wearing a hotel robe and slippers. "What's up, ladies?"

Buffy shot a quick glance at Dawn before turning back to him. "Xander, tell me again what you said last night, about what happened in the Atrium."

"I said I think Dawn may be a Slayer, too!" Xander smiled at both of them, "She took out five of those Ubervamps all by herself, after we ambushed the first three with a tarp over the skylight."

"Five Ubervamps, Dawnie," Buffy said, almost beaming. "That's more than any one of the other Slayers besides me and Faith dusted down inside the Hellmouth. Told you you'd be my ace in the hole someday."

"I guess Willow's Potential-finding spell was right after all," Xander said to Dawn. "Just got confused since you and Amanda were so close together at the time. I started suspecting when you killed those four Bringers that kidnapped you and your aunt... Wait! Ace in the hole?" He turned to Buffy. "You _knew_ she was a Potential?"

"It's a teensy bit more complicated than that," Dawn smiled. "I wasn't exactly a Potential and I'm not exactly a Slayer."

"I know you're not," Xander said. "You're still mysterious green ball of energy Key girl. But now, since your physical form was made from the blood of a Slayer, you got activated by Willow's spell."

"Not exactly, but you're close," Dawn smiled. "See, Xander! You _do_ see things no one else does, and that's your power!"

"Hey, I'm okay with you having super powers, Dawnie. I'm happy for you." He hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. "Besides, now I've got Andrew to commiserate with about having no powers."

The three of them laughed, then Buffy smiled. "Now I'm ready to tell Giles."

"Wait!" Xander looked at her. "_Giles_ doesn't know?"

"We kept it in the family," Dawn smiled. "Not that we don't consider you and Giles and Willow family. It was just the two of us and Grandpa, who told us about it in the first place."

It was nearly an hour later, after Carl and Joan had awakened and Buffy had called both Giles and Willow into the suite. Buffy had also ordered a huge Room Service breakfast for all and then hustled the maid out with a huge tip.

"Well, I'm glad you called us here," Giles mused. "I was planning on calling an informal meeting of the new Council sometime today, and it seems we have a quorum here."

"Giles, you're more than welcome to hold your meeting after I'm done," Buffy said, "but this is _my_ meeting. Actually, mine and Dawn's and Grandpa's. We have something to tell you and Willow."

Joan and Carl were seated on the couch facing Buffy, Dawn and Xander. "Just a second, Buffy," Joan said, then gestured toward Dawn. "Dawnie, come here."

Dawn came over and sat next to her grandmother, who put both arms around her. "Now, before Buffy says anything else, I want you to know that your grandpa told me everything he knows, and it doesn't change a thing. You're still my little Dawnie, whom I remember my own little girl giving birth to sixteen and a half years ago."

"Thanks, Grandma," Dawn replied, resting her head on Joan's shoulder as she stroked Dawn's hair. "Mom found out before I did, and when I did find out, she said pretty much the same thing."

"So we all know the real story about Dawn," Giles nodded.

"No, you don't- yet!" Carl smiled at him. "And Joan and I don't know the whole story, and I've told Dawn and Buffy that there are certain specific details that I _don't_ want to know for Dawn's own safety."

"What else is there?" Giles asked.

"Well, my old friend," Carl smiled, "it seems that the old Council, may they rest in peace, had cut you out of the loop yet again. This goes all the way back to before I found out they still existed and then they took me on as a consultant. I was doing some independent research on the Slayers' history, and it led me to this old monastery in Austria that had been bombed out in World War II. I found some old records there. It seems that the practice of giving certain orders of monks the charge of keeping custody of, and protecting, certain supernatural entities from evil has been around a while. And it seems that the idea of giving the entity human form from the blood of the current Slayer, and turning her into the Slayer's little sister for protection as a last resort, didn't originate with our Dawnie."

"So Dawn wasn't the first," Giles nodded.

"From what I could glean, it had happened at least three other times over the last eight or nine hundred years," Carl nodded. "No records of what the entities actually were originally, presumably for their own protection."

"An interesting little factoid to file away," Giles said. "I presume there's more?"

"The most important part. The part that the monk who told Buffy about Dawn either didn't know, or died before he got to finish the story. With a Slayer's life expectancy being so short, they couldn't count on whatever Slayer whose little sister they happened to turn her into, to protect the entity indefinitely. The whole point of making the entity's human form out of the Slayer's blood was so the entity would have at least some Slayer powers, so she could protect herself from whatever evil forces were after her."

Giles and Willow both raised their eyebrows.

"So essentially," Buffy nodded toward Dawn and smiled, "what we have is another Slayer. More or less."

"But one that I didn't activate with the scythe!" Willow interjected.

"Right," Carl nodded. "Not part of the line of succession, and whose powers emerged slowly while at the same time she grew up learning from her older sister." He smiled and added, "Of course, when I learned about this over thirty years ago, I never imagined that one day it would happen to my granddaughters."

"But you told the Council about it when they took you on as a consultant," Giles said.

"Sure did. Never wrote it down in my papers, but I told most of the bigwigs in the Council at the time, including Travers."

"And, as you said, they- he- cut me out of the loop yet again," Giles shook his head. "Bloody fool. So how did you figure out that this situation applied to Buffy and Dawn?"

"When we got the results of the DNA testing to establish I was Buffy and Dawn's grandfather."

"Turns out Dawn and I have 99.99 percent common DNA," Buffy said. "She's actually my clone. My monk-mojo created clone."

"Her taller, darker-haired clone," Dawn smiled. "Apparently they changed my DNA just enough so it wouldn't be so obvious."

Giles suddenly frowned with a look of incense. "Wait a minute! You were going to get the DNA test results after you dropped me off at the airport when I went back to London, way back in April! Talk about cutting me out of the loop!"

Dawn saw Buffy casting her eyes downward guiltily, and quickly came to her rescue. "It was my call, Giles. I didn't want any more people to know than already did. Remember, we were in the middle of dealing with The First. And at that point, only three of us in the whole world- Faith, Buffy and I- had Slayer powers. I was scared to death The First was going to zero in on me if it knew."

"Plus, that same night was the night the Bringers kidnapped her and Aunt Polly," Buffy added. "After she got cut and bled all over the seal, I could tell that her powers had been drained. She was back to normal human strength a couple of days later, but there was no telling how long it'd take for her Slayer strength to come back. So there was no point in bringing it up."

"I see your point," Giles nodded.

"But it's definitely back," Xander said. "She took out at least five Ubervamps by herself yesterday, in addition to a bunch the two of us dusted together."

Giles smiled at Dawn. "Dawn, I think it's marvelous! You're worth more than your weight in gold. All the knowledge and experience you have, plus Slayer strength!" He chuckled to himself and shot a sly glance at Buffy. "I rather fancy the idea of a Watcher who can still knock a Slayer on her posterior if she ever gets out of line!"

Dawn raised her eyebrows. "Watcher? No! I've got Slayer powers, why shouldn't I be out on the front lines with the other Slayers?"

"Dawn, relax!" Giles waved his hand. "In the first place, you've known your sister's and my Slayer-Watcher relationship long enough to know that we Watchers can't help but get into the front-line battles even if we try to avoid them. In the second place, we are breaking new ground with the entire Slayer-Watcher dynamic since all the old Watchers besides Robson and myself are gone. In the third place, the Potentials- excuse me- the other Slayers have been telling me all along that they've learned as much from you as they have from Buffy or Faith or myself. They consider you one of their mentors, even without knowing about your powers."

Dawn smiled, obviously moved by what had just been said.

"And in the fourth place," Buffy interjected, "you and I are going to seriously cut back on the Slayage business. I am going to, as Faith put it, live like a normal person for a change. You're going to finish high school. Then we'll go see the world together like I promised, maybe I'll finish college and you'll start, before you get into any serious activity as a Slayer or a Watcher." She turned to Giles with a smile. "And if I have any say in the matter, I'd like _my_ role to be a little less Slayery and a little more Watchery myself!"

"The roles are being redefined as we speak," Giles nodded. He glanced around the room. "Do I have the floor now?"

Buffy nodded.

"Right, then," Giles turned to Xander, who had quietly stood up and moved toward the door. "Xander, would you mind going back to our suite and get-"

Before Giles could finish, Xander turned the knob and suddenly yanked the door in, and Andrew came pitching in and crashing to the floor with a scream, holding a drinking glass with the bottom pressed to his ear.

"-ting Andrew to join us?" Giles finished, trying vainly to keep a straight face as the others tittered and chuckled. He waited for Andrew to pick himself up and for Xander to close the door again before clearing his throat. "Andrew," he continued, "you can be thankful that we're so short-handed. Under normal circumstances, such espionage and insubordination would be grounds for expulsion from the Council of Watchers."

Andrew gulped. "I'm in? I'm a Watcher?"

"With a lot of misgivings and a lot of work on all our parts, yes," Giles sighed, then turned to the others. "As I started to say earlier, not counting Robin Wood, who's in the hospital, and Edward Robson, who just got out of the hospital and is taking care of business over what's left of the original London headquarters and its assets, we _are_ the Council of Watchers."

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE_!**

**Replies to Feedback/Reviews:**

**To Allen: So far you're the one and only, so thanks for at least breaking the ice! Not gonna give away too much, and I'm not quite sure yet when or if I'm going to have Carl himself meet Angel face to face. As for whether or not they've ever crossed paths before, I do want to refer you the first work of this storyline, _Blood of the Night Stalker_ where, in reference to Spike, Carl tells Buffy and Dawn, "I may have never seen one before, but I've heard what the signs were for a vampire with a soul." As for the whole issue of Giles refusing to help save Fred, that will all be addressed in due time. ;-)**


	5. Chapter 5

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 5

Andrew took a seat on the couch.

"The first order of business..." Giles started, then saw the still-weary but withering glares from Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander. He cleared his throat and smiled defensively, "... is to ensure that everyone recovers from the ordeal that we've all just been through. We do nothing strenuous for the next week or so. We concentrate on rest and relaxation, enjoy the accommodations, and on getting our friends out of the hospital."

The others relaxed.

"However, I do wish to start _thinking_ ahead and would like all of your thoughts on a few issues. If not right now, at least for you to ponder for later discussion." He paused again, then said, "The next order of business is the fact that there are now brand new Slayers across the world, most of whom have no idea what hit them yesterday. I've just been on the phone with Miss Harkness from the coven in Westbury, and her seers tell her that they sense these new Slayers. Just as you mentioned that you have, Willow."

"And as I said," Willow replied, "we have to find them."

"Nearly all these new Slayers have never been on the coven's radar before," Giles continued. "Most of those who had been identified when they were Potentials were killed off by the Bringers over the past several months, with nearly all the survivors making their way to Sunnydale and joining our merry band. The vast majority of this batch are completely unknown to us."

"Just as I was unknown to the Council when I was first called," Buffy said.

"Yes, exactly," Giles nodded. "Which brings forth the big problem. Think of the trouble the Council and Merrick Jamison-Smythe had finding you, and multiply that by about thirty."

"So we'll probably have to rely almost totally on raw psychic energy and locator spells to find them all," Willow nodded. "Between myself and the Coven."

Carl and Joan shot a glance at each other, and then Joan waved her hand. "Well, we know where to find _one_, anyway!"

* * *

Colette wasn't quite sure what was up. Her mother mentioned that Grandma had called and that she, Grandpa and both of her cousins were on their way over from the hotel and wanted her to be around when they got there. She knew that Mom was almost as upset as Grandpa about the death of this Spike person in Sunnydale. The fact that the news reports were still insisting that there had been no fatalities in the collapse of the city indicated that there was a lot going on that the public didn't know about, but Spike's death didn't appear to be the cause of Mom's new apprehensions.

"You don't suppose this weird stuff that happened in Sunnydale has anything to do with all those goofy monster stories Grandpa used to write, do you?" Colette whispered to her sister as they sat watching MTV, one of the few channels not providing "All Sunnydale Crater, All the Time" coverage.

"No idea," Cyndi shook her head, "but don't knock 'Grandpa's goofy monster stories'... unless you want to have to work your way through college. And don't think that one flukey bottom-of-the-ninth home run is gonna win you a baseball scholarship to the school of your choice!"

Their mother Pauline saw the now-familiar silver Mercedes SL pull into the driveway and opened the front door. She gave each of her parents a quick peck on the cheek as they entered, and then threw her arms around both Buffy and Dawn, the latter of whom was holding an approximately three foot length of steel pipe to their cousins' bafflement.

"Buffy, Dawnie, I'm so sorry about Spike!" Pauline said, sniffling.

"Thanks, Aunt Polly," Dawn whispered back. She became misty-eyed, Buffy even more so.

"I never really got to know him," Pauline continued, "but he was a charming gentleman, and I'll never forget that he saved my life."

_Saved my life?_ Cyndi and Colette mouthed to each other with mutual amazement.

"And Anya and the other girls, too..." Pauline continued, "I know it sounds trite and cliche, but the dead are never really gone as long as you remember them. Like your mom. I feel like she's never left us."

"Thanks, Aunt Polly," Buffy said softly. They separated, and then the change in the expressions on Buffy's and Dawn's faces indicated that it was now down to business... whatever that business was. They turned toward their cousins sitting on the living room couch.

"Hey, guys!" Dawn grinned.

"Hi," Cyndi and Colette smiled back noncommittally. _What do you say to someone whose entire hometown has just been swallowed up in a giant crater? Along with, apparently, some friends of theirs._

"So, Colette," Buffy smiled, "Grandma and Grandpa told us about the home run you hit yesterday." She paused before adding, "At around eleven yesterday morning. You literally hit it out of the park?"

"Not just out of the park," Colette gloated, "but clear across the parking lot outside left field."

"And you'd never hit a homer before in your entire time in Girls Little League?"

"Never in my life," Colette replied, a little defensively.

"And your batting average before that was, what?" Dawn asked. "One-oh-seven for the season?"

"Yeah," Colette became more defensive.

"And how did you do for the rest of the game after the homer?" Dawn continued.

"There _was_ no 'rest of the game,'" Colette smirked. "It was the bottom of the ninth and I scored the winning run."

"So what's this about?" Cyndi asked. "You two become baseball scouts all of a sudden?"

"No," Buffy shook her head.

"Not _baseball_ scouts, anyway," Dawn said, then held out the steel pipe toward Colette. "See if you can bend this."

"Huh?" Colette looked at Dawn as if she were nuts.

"Just try to bend it!"

Colette shrugged and took the pipe. It looked and felt solid enough, ordinary household plumbing pipe. She grabbed the ends, gave a little half-hearted exertion... and felt and saw some give in the pipe. She raised her eyebrows, gave a little more pressure, and soon had it in a U-shape. She grinned. By this time, her father and brother had heard the talking and come in from the kitchen to see it.

"This is a gag, right?" Eric said incredulously. "That's not a real steel pipe, right? It's a movie prop!"

"Yeah, Eric!" Dawn glared at him. "We just lost our house, our car, everything else we owned, the school where I went and where Buffy worked, and the whole rest of the town along with it. And we have nothing better to do than to come over here and pull a practical joke on Colette!"

"Buffy, what does this mean?" Pauline asked nervously. "Did the other Slayer who took over the line of succession get killed?"

"No, Aunt Polly. Faith's fine, she's back in Ventura looking after the girls who went in the hospital, and her new boyfriend, who used to be my boss." She added, "In fact, she's in better shape than I am right now."

"But Colette's the new Slayer now," Paulette said grimly.

"_A_ new Slayer. It's not just me and Dawn and Faith anymore. We... actually, Willow... did some mojo and every girl who was a Potential is now a Slayer." Buffy could sense her aunt's heart sinking as she watched Pauline collapse into the nearest armchair.

"What's a Slayer?" Colette asked.

Buffy took a deep breath. "You'd better sit down too, Colette."

Colette did so, and then Buffy continued, "The first thing you need to know." She gestured toward Carl. "Grandpa: Not a fiction writer!"

"You didn't really write all those stories?" Colette asked him.

"Of course I did, Honey," he replied, "but they're not fiction. They really happened to me. That's why Grandma took your mom and your Aunt Joyce away from me for all those years. And I never blamed her for it."

"Vampires, demons, real!" Buffy continued. "Been around long before man first showed up. Thousands of years ago, some African witch doctors... they were called Shadow Men... decided to pick some innocent, unsuspecting teenage girl and empower her with demon-like magic to give her super strength, fighting instincts and quick-healing powers to fight and slay the vampires and demons for them. She was the first Slayer. When the she was killed, the power was passed on to another unsuspecting teenage girl, then she got killed and so on. Only a certain small number of girls at a time had the potential to become Slayers. It's been that way until about seven years ago, when I became the Slayer. First thing that changed, this vampire drowned me. Xander gave me CPR, but I was dead long enough for the line of succession to pass to another girl, so then there were two of us. Then a group of monks out in Europe had custody of this mystical ball of energy that had to be protected, and this Hell goddess came after the ball of energy and started killing off the monks. So _they_ did some magic on a poor unsuspecting teenage girl and made _her_ a human vessel for the ball of energy."

"That would be me," Dawn interjected.

"Before he died, the last surviving monk told me that as the Slayer, they knew I'd protect the energy by protecting my little sister. Then we found out recently... actually, Grandpa was the one who knew and told us... that Dawn was developing slayer-like powers so she could eventually protect herself. So now there were three of us. But even we and a bunch of about thirty potential slayers that had come to our house in Sunnydale weren't enough to stop this whole army of super-vampires. They were about to come out of the Hellmouth and take over the world."

"The Hellmouth?" Cyndi asked.

"A portal into Hell that was under Sunnydale High. That's why vampires and demons gathered there. And Giles can't confirm it, but we kinda figure the Council of Watchers manipulated things so Sunnydale was the only place Mom could open her art gallery, so I'd end up at Sunnydale High."

"Council of Watchers?" Colette asked.

"The guys that took over for the Shadow Men and oversaw the training and guidance of Slayers and Potentials. They're all dead now except for Giles and one of his friends back in England, who barely survived a bad knife wound. The First Evil killed them off along with most of the Potentials."

"The First Evil?" Cyndi asked, a mixture of anxiety and curiosity.

"More about him, or it, later," Buffy said. "Let me get..."

"And Giles is the old British guy with the glasses that was at your mom's funeral?" Colette asked.

"Colette, honey, he's your dad's and my age!" her mother said indignantly.

"We thought he was your mom's boyfriend or something," Cyndi added.

"Let me get to the point here," Buffy sighed. "We knew we didn't have a chance against thousands of these uber-vampires. Until we figured out a way to activate all the Potentials and make them _all_ Slayers." She drew a breath. "So, Colette, that's how _you're_ a Slayer now!"

Colette's eyes lit up. Almost unnoticed at first, Pauline sank further back in her seat with her eyes watering.

"Buffy," she finally said at barely above a whisper, "I thought all the Potentials were either dead or with you."

"Not every Slayer is identifiable as a Potential before she gets called, Aunt Polly," Buffy replied. "I wasn't, and obviously neither was Colette."

"We don't think it's a coincidence," Dawn said. "Buffy, me, now Colette. And since Grandpa's one of the most legendary vampire hunters in history... even though everyone thinks he's a fictional TV character... and three of his four granddaughters have these Slayer powers, it's probably something genetic."

"Including the part about not being identifiable as a Potential," Buffy added.

Cyndi took that as her cue. She snatched the U-shaped steel pipe out of her younger sister's hands and unbended it, then bent it in the other direction, then flexed it back and forth with increasing ease until it snapped in two.

"Let's make that four out of four!" she smirked.

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**Replies to Feedback/Reviews:**

**Allen: The whole Giles-Wesley-Angel-Wolfram & Hart issue will play out in later books of this storyline, so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.**

**Screaminheathen69: Looks like there are going to be a few parallels in this storyline to your own post-Chosen stories. (But no plans on my part for any further crossovers beyond the current Kolchak crossover.) I have to watch yours closely to ensure no plagiarism on my part, intentional or subconscious. In case there is, I assure you it will _not_ be intentional, and apologize in advance, and let's just write it off to great minds thinking alike! ;-)**

**General Mac (and to all readers in general, no pun intended!): I have to let you all know that I have not been writing this storyline in linear, chronological order and have been writing scenes and chapters in whichever way my muses happen to kiss me. Since I do want to post at least Book 1 in chronological sequence, there are certain sequential gaps that I have to fill, so I can't promise new postings at a regular pace. **

**While you're waiting for the next installment, I again strongly urge all of you, if you haven't already done so, to R&R the first part of this storyline, _Blood of the Night Stalker_, to get more details on the backstory!**


	6. Chapter 6

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 6

Buffy raised her eyebrows at the older of her two female cousins. Dawn also did so at first, then noticed Pauline turning very pale and placing her hands over her mouth. "Aunt Polly, you okay?" she asked.

"Buffy, how could you?" Pauline whispered, tears in her voice.

"We had to, Aunt Polly," Buffy replied gently. "The world would have ended yesterday if we hadn't. The same evil that the Bringers were trying to release when they tried to bleed you over the seal... That's what we stopped, except probably thousands of times over."

"But you hate having been called. Hate having this burden on you. Most important, you hate not having been given any choice in the matter! And you didn't give Cyndi or Colette a choice either!"

"They do have a choice, Aunt Polly," Buffy said. "The Potentials who were with us had a choice. They were all going to be given the power because we couldn't pick and choose who to give the power to and who not to. But we gave the Potentials who were with us the choice of leaving Sunnydale or going with us to the Hellmouth. All of them were free to go, but they all went with us because they knew it might have meant the end of the world. And now it's over."

Pauline breathed a little easier, appearing to be somewhat mollified.

"We just want the ones who weren't identified as Potentials beforehand to know what the hell it was that hit them yesterday," Dawn added. "Willow and this coven in England that Giles works with are using locator spells to find the others. Then Buffy and I and the other Slayers and the rest of our gang are going out and let them know."

"And then what?" Pauline asked.

"Then if they want to go about their merry way, we let them," Buffy said. "And if they do want to become active Slayers, we set them up with our training program... which we're not sure exactly what that will be yet."

"It used to be that each Slayer or Potential was assigned an individual Watcher to train and mentor her," Carl explained further. "There were always more Watchers than Potentials, until the Bringers started killing them off." He looked right at Pauline. "Those were the same bastards who kidnapped you and tried to bleed you over the seal, Honey. And did the same to me back in '71."

"Yes, Daddy. I know."

"So only girls are Slayers?" Eric asked.

"'Fraid so, Eric," Buffy said. "That's the way those old Shadow Men set it up, God knows how many thousands of years ago."

"Then can I be a Watcher? It's gotta be a lot like what Grandpa did, right? And you said there's a shortage-"

"Eric, no!" Pauline said, horrified. "You're not going to be a Watcher and Cyndi and Colette are not going to be Slayers!"

Carl, Buffy and Dawn had trouble hiding their disappointment.

"Actually, Aunt Polly," Buffy said, "they're _already_ Slayers. It's just a matter of how active they're going to be."

"So, Mom," Cyndi asked, "you don't want us to get into this training program?"

No, Cyndi!" Pauline shook her head and her eyes began to water. "Buffy, Dawn, you know I loved your mom, and I love you two almost as if you were my own. And Daddy, I can't express how happy I've been to have you back in my life after all those years thinking you were dead. But I'm just now coming to terms with who you really are, and what that means about who _we_ really are as a family. And fighting vampires and demons and monsters is not the life I want for _my_ children! I'm sorry!"

"That's okay, Aunt Polly," Buffy said. "Like I said, this is about choices and freedom."

* * *

They returned to their hotel suite, and as Carl inserted the key card and opened the door, the door across the hall to Giles, Xander and Andrew's suite opened and Giles stepped out.

"Oh, good. You're back."

"Well, we've just had our first rejections." Buffy told him.

"Looks like our cousins won't be coming into the family business," Dawn added.

"Well, that's... regrettable but understandable," Giles nodded. "Wait a minute! Did you just say _cousins_?"

"Yep," Buffy nodded. "Turns out Cyndi, our older cousin, has the powers too."

"Obviously genetic," Giles nodded as they all stepped into the Kolchaks' suite. "It's a shame, but of course it all boils down to an issue of choice in the end."

"That's what we told Aunt Polly," Dawn said.

"Well, I'm glad you're back," Giles said. "I've rented a car and I've been on the phone."

"You rented a car?" Buffy asked. "I thought you didn't have your license."

"I never renewed my _California_ license. Turns out the rental agency accepted my UK license, just as if I'd just stepped off the plane. At any rate, I've talked to Faith. Julianna and Rona have been discharged and are now at the hotel with her, Wood and Tracie are in stable condition, but we've got a serious problem with Chao Ahn."

"What?" Buffy asked.

"The hospital has a neurologist on staff who's from Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese, so naturally, they assigned him to her. And when she regained consciousness this morning, she started telling him about going into the mouth of Hell and fighting an army of ancient vampires."

"Oh, God!" Buffy blanched.

"So she's been transferred to the psychiatric ward for further evaluation," Giles added. The others all grimaced.

"What... what can we do about it?" Dawn asked.

"It won't have been the first time in history that the Council has had to deal with something like this," Giles said.

"But that was the old Council," Buffy said. "They're all dead. We're the new Council."

"Not to worry," Giles replied. "The old Council itself may be gone, but we had a support network of various professional associations to assist us with various professional needs. I've spoken to Robson about the problem, and he's working it from his end. He seems pretty sure he can track down a psychiatrist on the Council's retainer. That psychiatrist can in turn refer us to a psychiatrist here in America who can work with us and get Chao Ahn released into our care. Or if necessary, that psychiatrist can travel here from Britain and do the same."

"But Chao Ahn doesn't need a shrink!" Buffy protested.

"She does now!" Carl said. "That's the reality at this point."

"If only as a mere legality," Giles added.

"So how long will it take Robson to find this shrink?" Buffy asked.

"It may take a while," Giles replied. "No telling for sure how long. He's got some incomplete records to work with to identify the contacts."

"Oh, God!" Buffy shuddered. "Poor Chao Ahn, what she's in for. Been there, done that, did _not_ want the T-shirt!"

"Can't think of anything more we can do at this end," Giles shook his head. "Anyway, I was planning on going back to Ventura now and picking up Julianna and Rona. And there's something else I have to do there. Buffy and Dawn, I'd like you to come with me for this."

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"CHP, FEMA and the Red Cross have established a Sunnydale Relocation Support Center at the National Guard Armory in Ventura. They've set up a database for former Sunnydale residents: new addresses and phone numbers."

"So of course we have to register," Buffy said.

"You can phone that information in. That's not why I need you two." Giles glanced downward for a second. "I've obtained the address of the motel in Ventura where Amanda's parents are staying. Rather than my phoning them to tell them what happened, I'd like to ask you two to come with me and speak to them in person."

* * *

They'd agreed to it without argument, but also with no great enthusiasm. It was an obligation, pure and simple.

Amanda Corrigan's parents and fourteen year old brother had been among the first families to leave Sunnydale after the first real rumblings of evil, and as they were one of the more established and well-to-do families from the town, they'd been able to find one of the more upscale beach-front motels just outside the Ventura city limits toward LA before the main exodus flooded the lodgings in the Ventura area. To minimize the family's agony, Giles had waited until they were five minutes out before calling their motel room to tell them they were on their way.

Hazel Corrigan was an older version of her daughter, tall and skinny but with glasses and shorter shoulder-length hair. Her husband Denny was also tall but not so skinny with more middle-age spread, and although not as bookish as either his wife or daughter he still looked the part of a gray-haired bank branch manager which is what Amanda had told the other girls he did. Brother Kevin was blonde and athletic, unlike his sister had been. All three answered the door with grim faces when Giles knocked.

"Mr. Giles, Buffy, Dawn," Mrs. Corrigan's voice trembled as she fought to keep her composure. "Please come in."

"Mr. and Mrs. Corrigan," Buffy whispered as the three of them entered, "Kevin..."

"We know Amanda's dead, Buffy," Mr. Corrigan said stoically and resignedly. "She's had the number here since we got here nine days ago. When she didn't call yesterday, we knew she didn't make it out."

"I'm so sorry!" Buffy said as she and Dawn took the three family members in an embrace. All attempts at stoicism broke down as the five of them burst into tears. Even Giles was losing his fight to keep his eyes dry.

"We just want to know how it happened," Mrs. Corrigan cried.

"I was with her," Buffy sniffled. "It happened quickly. I don't think she suffered."

"Tell us what happened, Buffy," Mr. Corrigan said. "Mrs. Corrigan's family and mine have both been living in Sunnydale for generations, since before Wilkins first became Mayor. I guess we knew as much about the Hellmouth as anybody. So don't spare us any details. We'd heard about Slayers and heard you might be one when your family first moved there. That's why we let Amanda join you. We thought she'd be safer."

"And I failed her!" Buffy sobbed.

"No!" Mrs. Corrigan said calmly. "I'm sure you did your best." She glanced over to Dawn. "Both of you did your best against an impossible situation. After she joined you, she kept telling us how remarkably well you all were doing with what little you had. The last time she talked to us before the phone system went dead in Sunnydale, she let us know how hopeless the situation was, but how everyone was going to keep trying to hold back what was in the Hellmouth. You all tried."

Dawn was particularly affected by that last sentence, as she remembered that she had had almost the exact same conversation with Buffy after Buffy had blamed herself for the death of Cassie Newton, another classmate and friend of Dawn's.

"And you succeeded," Mrs. Corrigan continued. "Please. Sit down and tell us what happened."

They all sat, and then Buffy, Dawn and Giles recounted the events in Sunnydale since the last time the Corrigans had spoken to Amanda, culminating in the plan to activate all the Potentials and preemptively attack the Turok-hans in the Hellmouth. Buffy spoke of how bravely and aggressively Amanda had fought until struck down by the same Turok-han sword that had wounded Buffy.

"That's our Amanda," Mrs. Corrigan managed a laugh through her tears. "Never could pass up a good fight. Come to think of it, Buffy, that's how you happened to know her before you discovered she was a Potential Slayer."

"Yeah," Buffy nodded and smiled back.

"That's how we'll always remember her," Dawn added, also managing to smile.

"She died fighting Evil," Buffy said, then felt a need to repeat: "It happened quickly. I'm sure she didn't suffer."

* * *

"Well, that was a lot of fun," Buffy sighed heavily as Giles drove the rental car down the highway and on to the hotel where Faith and the other Slayers were staying. "Let's _not_ do it again real soon!"

"Are we going to have to do this for all the girls who died while they were with us?" Dawn asked, weeping openly in the back seat.

"Only if you wish to, Dawn," Giles tried to reassure her. "I only asked you to come along this time because the Corrigans were from Sunnydale themselves, and Amanda was your friend and classmate."

"But you want _me_ along for all the others," Buffy said warily.

"Actually," Giles replied, "once again we're breaking new ground. In past practice before you were called, Buffy, most Slayers had severed their ties with their families, and the Council never bothered to send any notification or offer any condolences to their next of kin upon their deaths. Once in a while, individual Watchers might have, but never the Council as an organization."

"But you're changing all that, of course," Buffy nodded.

"To the maximum extent practical," Giles said. "Actually, it may be difficult to contact most of the families of the girls we lost. Dawn, you and Willow did manage to collect information on most of the girls' families, and EMail most of that information to Robson. Who now has the only copy of that database."

"I'll buy a couple of new laptops for Willow and myself," Dawn said, still weeping but now less demoralized and more motivated. "Get us back on the net as soon as we can, get that info back from Mr. Robson."

"No rush, Dawn," Giles replied. "I spoke to him again this morning. There may not be that many families to contact. Many of the families were killed by the Bringers when they went after the Potentials, and as you already know, many of those girls who had Watchers had voluntarily severed contact with their own families. Those families of the dead on whom we have contact information are scattered all over the world, so there's no practical way for us to go and visit them all in the immediate future."

"But it would suck just to leave any of them hanging," Dawn said. The fact that the Old Council had done just that for its entire recorded history had snapped her out of her grief. "Maybe I can't do this every day, but _someone_ should talk to the families!"

"And we will, eventually," Giles reassured her. "Maybe not the three of us personally in each case. What I'm thinking about is how we can coordinate this visit with our going out and making contact with the new Slayers."

"Sounds fair," Buffy nodded. "And Dawnie, it's okay that you feel like you can't do this all the time. I'd be more worried about you if you became so calloused that you _didn't_ feel that way."

They'd picked up Rona and Julianna and moved them into the Harwood Terrace that evening, and then Buffy was able to persuade a reluctant Dawn that it was time they called their father, who asked them to join him for dinner the next evening.

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**Sorry it took so long to update! It's not that my creative juices had stopped flowing, but I've learned over the years that I don't get writer's block as often if I just follow my muses and don't limit myself to writing in linear chronological order; following those muses, I've spent most of the past month since the last chapter update actually writing most of what will be the last book of this series (probably Book 4 or 5, depending on how I decide to break up the books in between this book and that one). Actually, this was originally part of a much longer chapter which is almost complete and which I decided to split in two, so Chapter 7 will be posted in a few days. I guarantee it!**


	7. Chapter 7

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 7

Hank Summers stood in the doorway of the suite. "Hi, Honey!" he smiled at Buffy, and took her in his arms and kissed her on the cheek, then turned to Dawn and did the same. The embraces that both his daughters returned were stiff and obligatory, with a "Hi, Dad," that each tried vainly to make sound more enthusiastic than they felt. Hank was used to this by now.

He glanced around the room and saw Joan and an elderly, red-haired man in a seersucker suit get up from the couch. Joan and Pauline had never forgiven Hank for the pain he had caused Joyce, and he knew it, but Joan always managed to be civil if not cordial.

"Hello, Joan."

"Hank, there's somebody we'd all like you to meet," Joan gestured toward Carl as he extended his hand toward Hank. "Hank, this is Carl..."

"Carl," Hank smiled as they shook hands.

"Glad to meet you, Hank," Carl nodded back.

"... my husband," Joan finished.

Hank's arm stiffened in mid-handshake and he raised his eyebrows. "Oh!" He turned to Joan. "Congratulations, Joan. The girls never mentioned that you'd remarried."

"I didn't, exactly. Carl is the only husband I've ever had. He's Joyce's father. Buffy and Dawn's grandfather."

Hank stood there with a blank, open-mouthed stare for a few seconds before blinking. "I'm sorry. I don't understand. I thought Joyce's father died back in the early '60s. And that his name was Kirk."

"Well, Hank," Joan sighed, "since Carl is back in my life and has become a very important part of the girls' life, there's no getting around this. I took Joyce and Polly away from Carl, even changed our last name, because there was a lot of danger in Carl's life."

"Wait! You're saying Joyce's last name wasn't really Wilson?"

"Wilson's the only name she ever really knew," Joan said with a touch of sadness. "A plain, common name I picked to help us hide our identities. She and Polly were too young to remember their real name."

"Which is...?"

"Kolchak," Carl spoke up.

"Carl Kolchak," Hank nodded thoughtfully. "Investigative reporter from Las Vegas. That rings a vague bell."

Buffy and Dawn glanced at each other apprehensively, but their father didn't see them.

"Joyce and I used to talk about it with Polly and Matt back when we were younger," Hank continued. "We assumed you'd run afoul of the local Vegas Mafia and were the victim of a mob hit."

Carl smiled but said nothing.

"I guess you were on the run from them all these years," Hank added. Behind him his daughters smiled and let out inaudible sighs to each other.

"The reasons for my staying away from my family no longer exist," Carl nodded. "I'll never get back my little girl or the thirty-nine years she grew up and lived without me there to be a good father. But she left me two beautiful and wonderful granddaughters, and that makes up some of the loss."

"Yeah," Hank nodded. "Wow!... You're Joyce's dad and you're still alive... I'm sorry. It just takes a little getting used to!"

"It did for all of us," Buffy said.

"We even had a DNA test to be sure," Dawn added.

"It was _my_ decision to take Joyce and Polly away," Joan said meaningfully. "Carl didn't want me to, but the dangers in his life were very real."

"I can imagine," Hank said. "Is it safe now? I mean, mob vendettas and contracts aren't things that go away by themselves over time."

"I wouldn't have let him back in our lives if it wasn't safe, Hank," Joan said.

"I understand," Hank said, still overwhelmed.

"Dad, you remember Xander and Willow, of course," Buffy gestured toward the other couch where they were sitting; they'd come over for moral support, although Giles had deliberately absented himself to avoid an awkward clash of father figures for the two sisters.

"Hi, Xander, Willow! How've you b-" Hank stopped short and blanched as he noticed the eyepatch. "Oh, jeez, Xander! Sorry about your eye! How'd it happen?"

"Construction accident," Xander shrugged. "Caught the corner of a steel beam that was being hoisted and swung the wrong way."

"Sorry to hear that!"

"It's okay, Mr. Summers. I'm coping."

"Glad to hear that," Hank nodded, then turned to his daughters. "Ladies, shall we go?"

As the three of them stepped into the hallway toward the elevators, Hank shook his head in bewilderment. "Buffy, Dawnie, I can't believe I've let things go as long as I have..."

_I can! _his daughters both thought, shooting a glance at each other to confirm that they shared the same thought.

"Your grandfather coming back into your lives," he continued, "Xander losing his eye. Dawn, you've grown at least three inches since the last time I saw you. You're taller than Buffy now!"

_I passed her a year and a half ago!_ Dawn thought. _You just didn't notice the last time you saw us!_

"You're not my little punkinbelly anymore!" Hank added.

That was the threshold for Dawn. "I was never _your_ little punkinbelly, Dad! You never called me that! That was Mom's nickname for me!"

"But I still thought of you that way," he smiled defensively.

_Good God, Dad! _Buffy thought, _Are you really this dense, or are you just trying to pretend nothing's happened the last three or four years?_

There was a strained silence on the short drive over to the Mexican restaurant in Burbank. After they were seated and placed their order, Hank tried to pick up the conversation. "So, I just want you to know that with your mom's house gone, you two are welcome to move in with me here in Burbank."

"Oh!" Dawn replied, dripping with sarcasm. "Does that mean Lucinda's moved out?"

"Dawn!" Buffy chided, although she felt the same herself. It was ironic that when Hank and his secretary had returned to the LA area a year and a half ago from their excursion in Spain, they'd moved into the next town over from Aunt Polly and Uncle Matt, and yet there was no contact between Hank and his ex-sister-in-law until the day Sunnydale collapsed. _On the other hand,_ Buffy thought, _from Aunt Polly's point of view, if someone ever did to Dawnie what Dad had done to Mom, I wouldn't want any contact with him either! I'd probably kill the sonofabitch!_

"Look," Hank sighed, "I know both of you blame Lucinda for what happened, but you've got to understand that things were cooling off between me and Mom long before Lucinda-"

"Sure, blame Mom now that she's not around to defend herself!" Dawn snapped.

"I'm not, Dawnie! It's just... since you two need a place to stay, our house is open to you."

"Thanks, Dad," Buffy said, "but we're fine. Grandpa's got a lot of money, we can stay in that hotel for a while. In fact, he's given me and Dawn enough money for both of us to go to college without having to work. The least he could do to make up for not being there for Mom." She hadn't intended that last sentence as a cheap shot, but then didn't care that it sounded that way. "He also has a house up in Lake Keogh where he and Grandma are probably going to settle in, and they've invited us to move in with them."

Hank paused thoughtfully before responding. "Honey, is your Grandpa's money... clean? I mean, if he's been hiding for over forty years, he must've..."

"His money's clean," Buffy said firmly. She and Dawn had planned in advance the explanation they would give for their grandfather's turning up filthy rich after four decades of being believed dead: do nothing to discourage the assumption that the disappearance itself was Mob related, be as honest about the money as practical without giving away that it had to do with vampires and demons. "He may have kept a low profile, but he continued to be an investigative reporter and writer. He published a lot of stuff under different pen names."

"Are you sure, Honey?" Hank asked, his skepticism dripping as heavily as Dawn's sarcasm had.

"Oh, believe us, Dad," Dawn said, "both of us were very familiar with his work long before we had any idea we were related to him."

* * *

Buffy and Giles returned to Ventura and picked up Tracie the next day; she told them that the quick-healing Slayer power had kicked in and she was feeling fine when they'd picked up the other two, but the doctors wouldn't believe their own eyes and refused to discharge her for the additional two days. That left Chao Ahn and Robin Wood as the only two left hospitalized, with Faith continuing to stay at the hotel.

The morning after Tracie had joined them in Glendale, Giles joined the rest of the New Council in the Kolchaks' suite for another room service breakfast. It wasn't a formal meeting but just a friendly social breakfast gathering, although everyone made silent note of the fact that Willow was again there without Kennedy.

It was still well short of the week of doing nothing that he had promised the others, but Giles felt he could get away with again breaking that rule with some good news. "I just got off the phone with Robson, and the tides seem to be turning in our favor for a change. First, one of the Council's Swiss bank accounts has been unfrozen and turned over to us. So, Carl, Buffy and Dawn, you can stop bankrolling our operation and we'll be reimbursing you for what you've spent so far."

"No hurry," Buffy replied. "Like I said, that's not even on our radar."

"Nevertheless, it's money due the three of you. The second piece of good news is that Robson has found and contacted a psychiatrist with whom the Council has worked. He'll be contacting some colleagues here in America and making a call to the psychiatric staff at St. Francis about Chao Ahn for us."

"That _is_ good news," Carl nodded.

"In the meantime, I hope you don't think it's too early to start thinking about what to do next with all our girls, plus all those around the world that we've yet to locate and contact."

"It _is_ too early," Xander sighed, "but you're going to talk about it anyway!"

"We're going to have to have them in some kind of school at some central facility," Giles continued, ignoring Xander's quip. "We simply do not have the resources to have a one-to-one Slayer to Watcher ratio. Perhaps eventually we shall recruit more Watchers and be able to have that, but for the time being, we should have some kind of central school facility. Perhaps a joint school for Slayers _and_ Watchers. Perhaps under the guise of a private boarding school."

"Where?" Carl asked.

"Well, the majority of the Council's financial assets and resources are in the UK, of course," Giles said, "but since the plurality of Slayers are right here with us, I see no reason not to set up right here in California someplace."

Carl smiled over to Joan and then said, "I know just the place!"

"Really! Where?"

"My lodge up on Lake Keogh. Up in the mountains near the Sequoia National Forest, two and a half to three hour drive northeast of here, east of Bakersfield. I bought it a long time ago, figuring it'd make a great place to retire. I figured some day I'd leave it to Joan, Polly, Joyce and the grandkids, but I don't spend as much time there as I thought I would. Up until recently, being an old man living alone, I was feeling lost, that it was too big for me. Turning it into a school for Slayers and Watchers, I can't think of a better use for it. Especially since two of my granddaughters will be there."

"Thank you, Carl," Giles smiled back. "The Council would pay rent, of course. The least I could do for all the times the Old Council short-changed you for your services."

Buffy glanced over thoughtfully to Dawn. "I guess we could have a regular high school and middle school program of sorts, in addition to the Slayery and Watchery stuff, based on the age of most of the Slayers."

"If we can find teachers whom we can trust to work amongst us and maintain the secrecy of our organization," Giles nodded. "Of course, we have Robin Wood to act as an administrator..."

Joan cleared her throat loudly. "Excuse me! Retired educator here! Thirty one years as a classroom teacher, four years as a vice-principal! And not to take away anything from your Mr. Wood, but I made my way up through the ranks of the San Diego public school system with proper credentials. Not through some diploma mill and applying for a job that nobody else wanted, with the two immediate predecessors having been eaten by demons!"

Giles blushed. "Of course, Joan! It's just that I wasn't sure you'd want to come out of retirement."

"For a chance to work with Carl and Buffy and Dawnie?" Joan smiled. "How many students total do you think you'll have? I might know a couple of other teachers you can trust and who might be persuaded to come out of retirement or leave their current jobs."

"That's a little hard to predict right now," Giles replied. "Any of the twelve we have now may choose to go home to their families, and as we've learned from your other two granddaughters, the ones we have yet to establish contact with may choose not to come to our Slayer Academy. Plus we may end up recruiting Watcher candidates who are also of school age."

"I can think of one young possible Watcher candidate I know," Carl said.

"So how many of these new Slayers are out there?" Joan asked.

"We don't have an exact number," Willow said. "I tried doing a locator spell once the other night, using a world map, and came up with twenty-seven. The Westbury Coven has tried several times and their number keeps fluctuating, anywhere between twenty-five and forty-three."

"Only three of these were previously known to us as Potentials who had managed to elude the Bringers but not to make their way to Sunnydale," Giles added. "The rest are completely unknown to us."

"I'm still not quite sure I understand why there are so many of these girls," Joan said, "and why the number keeps fluctuating."

"That actually might be a good thing, Joanie," Carl told her.

"It's obvious that certain Potentials had some kind of masking capability built into them," Willow said. "So the mojo the old Council was using to identify them, and send Watchers to them to train them before they were called, didn't work."

"Yes," Giles nodded. "It appears that this was some sort of protection against exactly the kind of thing that just occurred with the First and the Bringers."

"You mean an effort by the Big Bad to identify all the Potentials and make them extinct," Buffy said.

"Exactly," Giles nodded again. "Buffy, you were obviously one of them since _we_ never found you until you were called. And since Dawn was never identified as a Potential, and it's apparent that your young cousins are also among of these, it's probably a genetic trait."

"Actually," Willow smiled sheepishly, "we did kinda sorta identify Dawn as a Potential, but the spell went all kerflooey because it turned out Amanda was standing right outside the door."

"Yes," Giles smiled, "well, I think 'kerflooey' is the operative word here."

"Well," Carl spoke up, "since Dawnie isn't _exactly_ a Slayer and wasn't exactly a Potential, any Potential-detecting spell would be bound to go kerflooey around her. Especially since she was never 'called' in the traditional sense and her Slayer-type powers were supposed to emerge slowly." He looked at Dawn. "And the magic that the monks did to make you human probably has some additional masking properties, too."

Dawn raised her eyebrows and gulped uncomfortably but said nothing.

"Yeah," Xander said. "It's like ECM on a warplane."

Everyone gave him a blank stare except Giles, who nodded in agreement.

"Electronic Countermeasures," Xander elaborated. "If a fighter plane or a bomber has an enemy Surface to Air Missile site or an enemy fighter that locks onto it with their radar, the targeted plane can emit its own radar wave signals and release a package of Christmas tree tinsel. Throws the radar lock right off and makes the enemy missile go kerflooey. Same with these Potential locator spells."

Dawn's eyes began to mist. "Including the spells the First and the Bringers used to track down and kill the Potentials," she said quietly. "Oh, my God!"

"Dawnie, what's wrong?" Buffy asked.

"What if Amanda was never a Potential to begin with?" Dawn's voice trembled. "What if the reason Willow's orange cloud hit me and then hit her, and the reason the Bringers went after her, was because these spells bounced off me and hit her because she was the nearest other girl? What if she had no business going into the Hellmouth with you and the other Slayers?"

Buffy put an arm across her sister's shoulders. "Dawnie, don't beat yourself up over this! This is something you had absolutely no control over! There's no way you could have even known about it at the time!" She paused, then added, "I saw Amanda dust at least three Ubervamps before she died. She _was_ a Slayer!"

"Well, she could have just been juiced up on adrenaline!" Andrew interjected. He instantly drew a _Not making it better!_ glare from everyone else in the room except Dawn, and Xander slapped the back of his skull. "Ow! I'm just saying... All of us ordinary people were pretty juiced up with adrenaline at the time."

"Andrew's right," Dawn sniffed.

"Maybe so," Buffy nodded, "but we'll never know for sure. And we can't go back and change the past. And Amanda died _believing_ she was a Slayer. She died fighting Evil."

* * *

That afternoon, Buffy decided to join most of the other Slayers, Willow, Xander and Andrew at the hotel's outdoor swimming pool. Dawn had decided to stay upstairs and tweak both her and Willow's newly purchased iBook laptops and to review the various files that Robson had EMailed to them, promising to join the others at the pool later. Buffy found herself floating on an air mattress, actually half-asleep, oblivious to the ambient sounds of her friends and fellow Slayers laughing, conversing and splashing in the water.

_"Buffyyyyyyyy!"_

Dawn's shriek was impossible to tune out. It was the shriek that was almost always accompanied by at least the threat of imminent death for someone, if not a total apocalypse. Reflexively, Buffy rolled over into the water and kicked herself back to the surface, then looked up to the eighth floor to see her sister sticking her head out the window of their grandparents' bedroom. "Dawn!" she shouted back after sputtering out a mouthful of water.

"Buffy! Come up here! Quick!"

She got out of the pool and sprinted up the eight flights of steps without grabbing her towel or flip-flops, or waiting for an elevator. She entered the suite living room, still dripping wet, to see Dawn, Joan, Carl and Giles all staring with shocked expressions at the TV.

"Dawnie, what's wrong?" she gasped.

"Look!" Dawn replied breathlessly, pointing to the TV screen which showed a view looking down into the distance at the rubbled center of the Sunnydale crater, at a California Highway Patrol medevac helicopter as it lifted off.

"Once again, our top story this hour," the TV news anchorwoman intoned. "In what can only be described as a miracle, rescue workers with trained search dogs found a young woman still alive but unconscious, buried in the rubble at the epicenter of the Sunnydale crater. The as yet unidentified young woman, who is in critical condition at St. Francis Hospital in Ventura, was found in a chamber under several feet of debris from what is believed to have been Sunnydale High School, four days after the earthquake caused the entire city to collapse into a giant sinkhole. The young woman is described as appearing to be between fifteen and eighteen years old, five feet nine inches tall with long dark brown hair, and was wearing pink slacks, white tennis shoes, a red golf shirt and a maroon hooded sweatshirt. Anyone with information on the possible identity of this young woman should contact the California Highway Patrol Sunnydale Task Force at the toll-free number at the bottom of your screen..."

* * *

"Buffy, don't beat yourself up over this!" Dawn told her.

"I left her for dead, Dawnie."

"You barely got out of there alive yourself! We _all_ barely got out alive!"

Buffy was weeping openly now. "I left her to be buried alive! Me of all people! After the trauma I went through of being buried alive myself..."

"If she looked dead when you left her and they found her unconscious, chances are she was unconscious the whole time. She probably won't remember."

"How many of them were still alive when I left them?"

"Buffy, don't torture yourself like this! Just be happy that we got her back!"

"You're right," Buffy managed to force a smile.

Dawn sniffled as her eyes started brimming. "I feel like I've been blessed," she smiled as she stroked Buffy's hair. "Amanda's the second person I've cared about who's come back from the dead. That's way more than anyone could ask for!" Buffy smiled back and placed her hand on her sister's.

Amanda's parents stepped out into the hall, sniffling with watery eyes as well. "You can see her now," Mrs. Corrigan said. "We'll wait out here."

Buffy and Dawn entered the ICU room. Amanda's head was bandaged, and she had a black eye and bruises on her jawline and lower lip, her left leg was in a cast and in traction, and they could see more bandages showing under her hospital gown. She had a solution dripping from a bag through an IV tube in her left arm. She turned her head and eyes slowly toward the two sisters as they approached.

"Hi, Amanda," Dawn said at barely above a whisper, her voice tearful as she took Amanda's right hand.

"Hey, Dawn," she replied weakly, then looked at Buffy. "Hey, Miss Summers."

Buffy raised her eyebrows. "Miss Summers? Why so formal all of a sudden? Are you that mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you, Miss Summers? After all the help you've given me?" Amanda paused. "I know you're the youngest faculty member... and you're Dawn's sister... and Dawn's my friend... and most of the kids think you're cool... but you're still a counselor. I still have to call you Miss Summers, right?"

"You... don't remember," Buffy said.

"Remember what?"

"Staying over at our house," Dawn said. "Going through all the training..."

Amanda squinted at her in confusion.

"... the assertiveness training and the group therapy sessions with the other girls," Buffy interjected quickly.

"Huh?"

"Do you know how you got here?" Buffy asked.

"I know my parents said something about an earthquake, but when I woke up I just assumed I got knocked unconscious when I got mugged."

"Mugged?" Buffy asked.

"In the hallway outside the Home Sciences room. I went there to sew up a hole in my Swing Choir sweater. Somebody jumped me and I started struggling, and... that's all I remember."

"In January," Dawn nodded.

"Yeah. Mom says it's May now... but it feels like it was last night... Have I been in a coma for four months?"

"No," Dawn shook her head. "Just a few days... You don't remember coming to our house after you were attacked and talking to me?"

"I just remember getting jumped... and struggling... I never even got to see the guy's face."

The two sisters shot a glance at each other.

"Was I... raped?" Amanda asked hesitantly and anxiously.

"No!" Dawn said quickly, patting her forearm. "In fact, you fought off your attacker. You defended your own virtue quite successfully."

"I did?" Amanda smiled. "I don't remember anything."

"Sometimes it's normal for someone to not remember a traumatic experience," Buffy reassured her.

"But if I've only been in this coma for a few days, then why have I lost a whole four months of my life? What else happened?"

"Nothing you need to be ashamed of, Amanda," Buffy smiled with her eyes welling up. "It can wait. You just get some rest and get better."

"We'll be back real soon," Dawn added, squeezing Amanda's hand.

"Thanks, Dawn. Thanks, Miss Summers."

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**(I'm staring to go through feedback withdrawal!) ;-) **

**As I said in the last chapter, that one and this were originally a single chapter that I decided to split for length, so this update came pretty quickly as promised. Can't make any more promises as to how soon the next chapter will be written and posted.**


	8. Chapter 8

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 8

The two Mercedes coupes wound their way through the woods along the mountain highway. The reason that there were now two of them was that Buffy and Dawn decided they needed some new wheels of their own to replace their mother's old Jeep Cherokee, and Dawn had resumed her plans to buy a Mercedes like Carl's; ever quick to seize any opportunity to spoil any of his newfound grandchildren rotten, Carl then sold them the year-old coupe at a fraction of Blue Book value and bought a new current-year model to replace it. Now Carl led the two-car convoy with Joan at his side and Giles in the back seat, while Dawn followed with Buffy, Xander and Willow, as they drove by a waist-high stone fence in the woods, and then turned into an opening in the fence and down a private asphalt driveway. Fifty yards into the woods, they drove into an open area with the driveway skirting around a nearly football field-sized lawn before going back around through the woods and out another gate. Across the lawn was a huge house built of redwood with a tall, mostly glass-enclosed A-shaped center section and a two-story wing extending from either side. Behind the mansion, there was a break in the skyline of relatively young but still towering Sequoias and other evergreens.

Carl pulled up to the front step of the center section where the driveway had widened. As the two cars emptied, he smiled with satisfaction at the jaw-dropping awe of everyone else, except for Joan whom he had shown the place a few weeks before, and including Giles.

"Most impressive, Carl!" Giles tried his best to maintain his British reserve.

"Wow, Grandpa!" Buffy said breathlessly. "I knew you were loaded, but..."

"Like I said, Honey," Carl grinned, "my ego cried all the way to the bank when they bought the movie rights to The Kolchak Papers, as fiction!"

"Giles," Dawn said, "I don't care where you decide to set up the Slayer Academy, I'm living here!"

Carl put his arm around her. "It's never a home without family to share it with, Dawnie." He led them up the front steps, took his key ring and unlocked the door.

After they entered the foyer, the ceiling of which went to the top of the high-peaked roof, he began the tour with the rest of the mostly glass-enclosed center section. The staircase immediately in front of them indicated one lower level, while also leading upward to four more loft-like levels overlooking the foyer. Straight ahead on the entry level, they could see a large and modern kitchen, and beyond that an even larger glassed-in dining area that overlooked the waters of Lake Keogh.

Carl led them up the steps to the second floor, where there was a wide hallway with four doors on each side. An elevator door was at the far end, with ceiling-to-floor windows on either side again overlooking the lake. "Like I said, this place was originally built as a resort lodge, plenty of living space. I didn't want to go into the resort business, it wasn't doing that well as a resort anyway which is why I got it for a good price. I tried renting it out as apartments for UCKC students for a few years but it didn't work out. Too many parties. Started losing money on repairs and liability insurance. Anyway, there's eight bedrooms on this floor, a shared bath for every two rooms." He opened the door to one of the rooms nearest the stairwell. It was spacious for a single occupant, with a dormer window providing plenty of sunlight and more space despite the tapering roof-wall.

_Okay,_ Buffy smiled as she started ticking off names mentally. _One each for me, Dawn, Xander and Willow-- and Kennedy in case their relationship doesn't keep heading where it looks like it's heading and if Grandma and Grandpa don't mind-- and Faith and Robin, again if Grandma and Grandpa don't mind and if THAT relationship holds up-- and that still leaves room for Andrew, and maybe even for Cyndi and Colette if Aunt Polly ever changes her mind. I'm guessing Giles will want to live off the grounds._

"Next level up," Carl continued as he led them up the stairs, "is what I think of as the office floor." Due to the tapering of the roof, it was smaller in area than the lower floor, and divided into four larger rooms, with skylights rather than dormers although they were low enough to give a nice view of the surrounding Sequoia woods- but not nearly as spectacular as the full glass-wall view of the two rooms on the lake side of the house. It still wasn't officially Summer, but there were already a number of sailboats, jet-skis, motorboats and waterskiers out, and the waterfront of Keogh City, on the far side of the lake, wasn't quite bustling, but it was definitely alive.

"The old Council Headquarters in London didn't have a view like this," Giles grinned, giving up on maintaining his reserve.

Carl pressed the "Down" button on the elevator. "The top two levels are my private space-" He smiled at Joan. "Soon to be _our_ private space. A large apartment, and my writer's loft at the very top. No need to go up there today."

Dawn smiled. "A long way from the seedy motel at the end of the first _Night Stalker_ movie, huh, Grandpa?"

"Well, I did go through that phase in my life, Dawnie," he smiled back. "Makes me appreciate what I have now even more."

The elevator opened and the seven of them stepped into it. Like everything else at that end of the center section, it was glass-enclosed and offered a remarkable lake view. "I'm not quite old enough to _really_ need this elevator yet," Carl continued, "but when the time comes, I may as well have something I enjoy!"

The elevator descended and then opened at the bottom level. Outdoors outside the elevator shaft was a huge railed deck, made from local redwood like most of the rest of the building. It ran the width of the entire house including the wings, and the railing opened onto a pier that ran nearly a hundred feet into the small lakeshore cove that the house sat on.

"What?" Xander called out facetiously, "No yacht, Carl?"

"The little one's in drydock in town being repainted," Carl replied coolly. In the short time he'd known Xander, he'd learned quickly how to anticipate and fire back at his wisecracks.

Indoors on the bottom level was a huge recreational area with a second kitchen, bar, baby grand piano, pool and ping-pong tables, and wide-screen TV. Carl then revealed that there were a total of eighteen more bedrooms in the two wings, each wing also having an inside skylighted atrium. One wing also had a four-vehicle garage at the driveway level with a gym below it and a small heated pool and Jacuzzi in its atrium. The other wing was all bedrooms except for two large rooms, one of which was unused and the other which Carl had turned into his personal library, which Giles noted rivaled his own back in England, and the atrium was neatly landscaped with an artificial waterfall and some small trees.

"Seems like we have everything we'll need here," Giles smiled, obviously as enamored of the place as the rest of the Scooby Gang. "Depending on how many Slayers and Watcher trainees we end up with."

"And if we run out of space," Carl added, "we can clear back some of the trees and build an annex or bring in some trailers."

They heard the front door open and shut, and a man's voice called out from the foyer, "Carl! We're here!"

"Okay," Carl smiled, "time for you all to meet my two young friends!"

They all came back to the front foyer, where they found two dark-haired, medium-tall men. One was a husky man in his thirties in the traditional black suit and Roman collar of a Catholic priest; the other was a leaner, younger man of about 19 or 20 with a short haircut, in jeans and a T-shirt with the University of California Keogh City logo. He had a mischievous smile as he watched the members of the Scooby Gang come up the stairs, and then his eyes met Dawn's. His smile brightened even more, as did that of its recipient. Being the ever vigilant legal guardian and overprotective big sister, Buffy caught the subtle interaction. _He's here with a priest, for God's sake! One who apparently knows Grandpa! Relax!_ she smiled to herself.

"Ah! Phil! Tony!" Carl grinned. "Glad you could both come!" He gestured to the gang as he made the introductions. "Joan you already met the last time. These are our granddaughters, Buffy and Dawn Summers, their friends Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, and this is Rupert Giles, the new head of the Council of Watchers. Who, as I told you, is much more Yank-friendly than his predecessors! Everyone, these are some old friends of mine, Father Phil Vincenzo, and his nephew Tony."

"Tony _Vincenzo_?" Dawn said with a little giggle. "As in--"

"Tony Vincenzo _the Third_," the younger man smiled, "as in my grandpa was your grandpa's editor for decades."

"Cool!" Dawn smiled back.

"Tony Senior and I weren't at each others' throats nearly as much as Hollywood played it up," Carl added.

"Yes," Father Phil nodded in agreement. "Dad actually edited _The Kolchak Papers_ and got a good healthy slice of _The Night Stalker_ royalties himself. He was able to retire early from the syndication job in Chicago, and most of the family relocated to this area in the late Seventies. He and Mom spent their last years in leisure and comfort right here on Lake Keogh, thanks in large part to Carl."

"Thanks," Carl smiled back. "So, Giles, young Tony is the prospective Watcher I was telling you about. He grew up knowing _The Kolchak Papers_ were real and wanting to become a freelance vampire hunter."

"Good, then!" Giles nodded to Tony. "We can use all the help we can get."

The mischief returned to Tony's smile as his gaze scanned the faces of the others. "When Carl told me the Council of Watchers had been wiped out and that I was going to meet the New Council, I knew I'd be seeing you all again!"

That raised everyone else's eyebrows. "Have we met before?" Buffy asked.

"I didn't expect you to recognize me," Tony continued to grin. "The last time we met, I was wearing a green flight suit and helmet with the sun visor down, and I was helping to carry your friend Rhonda-"

"Rona," Buffy corrected him.

"Rona," he continued, "feet first from the bus to the Blackhawk."

"So you're a medic in the National Guard?" Dawn asked, with a hint of more than just casual interest.

"Not a medic. Normally, I'm a machine gunner and assistant crew chief on standard troop carrier Blackhawks. The Medevac unit happened to be short-handed the day Sunnydale collapsed, so they snagged me to help them out."

"So Carl tells me you just got back from Afghanistan," Giles said.

"Two months ago. I was there for six months."

"You've been in combat, then," Giles nodded.

"Yeah," Tony nodded back matter-of-factly. "Not hand-to-hand stuff like staking a vampire. Like I said, I'm a helicopter machine gunner. I stay on board when the grunts get off. I've never actually gotten close enough to see the face of anybody I shot." Tony smiled at Dawn and continued. "I keep getting a lot of how young I am for someone who's seen the elephant, but from what Carl's told me about Slayers and how young _they_ are when they're called, compared to them, I'm an old geezer!"

"They use elephants in Afghanistan?" Buffy asked.

"An old soldier's phrase," Giles explained with a smile. "'Seeing the elephant' means being in combat. I believe it's a reference to ancient man and going on a hunt for mastodons or wooly mammoths as a rite of passage into adulthood." He turned back to Tony. "Buffy is the longest lived Slayer in the records of the Council, and one of the oldest."

"So I've heard," Tony nodded.

"But hopefully that's going to change," Willow said, "now that she's not the one and only, with the weight of the world on her back."

"Well, I'm definitely interested in being a part of this," Tony nodded, "from what Carl's told me."

"So you're a student at UC Keogh City," Giles said to Tony.

"I'll be re-starting my Sophomore year in September. Would've been a Junior if my unit hadn't been mobilized."

"I had to drop out of college my Sophomore year too," Buffy nodded. "At UC Sunnydale, when Mom died. I'm going to apply to UC Keogh City if we end up setting up Slayer Central here. Probably not this year, but eventually."

"Me too," Dawn added with a smile, "if I ever I get my high school transcripts straightened out and graduate."

"Neat," Tony nodded back.

"Well, as I said, the Council can use all the help it can get," Giles said. "Although I presume that since you're tied to the campus _and_ to your National Guard unit, you're pretty much tied to this area."

"For the next few years, anyway."

"Well," Giles smiled, "since it's looking more and more like this is going to be our base of operations, that shouldn't be a problem."

Everyone smiled.

"And Father Phil here," Carl said, "is going to be our supplier of Holy Water and crosses that are blessed."

"And an unofficial chaplain, if you need one," the priest added. "I do understand that Slayers come in all sizes, shapes, colors and religions."

Carl led everyone back out to the back deck, where they sat under the awning and the Scooby Gang acquainted themselves with Tony and Father Phil, and familiarized themselves with the Vincenzo family history, particularly the differences between the late real-life patriarch Tony Sr. and the TV image that had been created of him. After an hour, a delivery van from a local deli dropped off a luncheon platter, and the conversation continued over lunch.

Father Phil told of how he, Tony Junior and their sister Francine had grown up there in Keogh City after Tony Senior's retirement from the Chicago-based news syndication and later on taking an adjunct professorship in journalism at UCKC. Phil had spent most of his career as a priest in various parishes in Southern or Central California before landing the pastorship in his old home town. Tony III then told of how he grew up in Fresno, after Tony Jr. had followed in his father's footsteps as a journalist and ended up as an editor at one of the papers there; he enlisted in the Guard during his Senior year in high school, then decided to go to UCKC; his grandparents' own lakefront house a couple of miles down the lake still belonged to the family and was being rented out as off-campus apartments to UCKC students, so he had appropriated the entire top floor for himself.

To the amusement of Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander, Dawn took the lead in sharing the history of the Scooby Gang from the time the Summers family moved to Sunnydale, directing nearly all of her eye contact with the younger of the two Vincenzo men.

Buffy and Willow noted happily that Xander was completely relaxed and his usual humorous self with Father Phil, a complete relief considering his last encounter with someone wearing clerical garb. After several more minutes of conversation, Dawn opened the railing gate to the dock, kicked off her shoes, stuck a foot in the water and announced, "I think I'm ready to take a dip."

"Sounds good to me," Tony said.

At Carl's suggestion before they left Glendale, Dawn, Buffy, Xander and Willow were all wearing swimsuits under their street clothes, so Dawn had her T-shirt and jeans off and jumped into the water which was just over knee deep at that point. Tony, as it turned out, was also wearing swim trunks under his jeans and T-shirt, and joined her in a matter of seconds as she waded out alongside the pier into deeper water.

"How's the water, Dawnie?" Buffy called.

"A little chilly at first but fine once you're in," she replied. "Come on in!"

Buffy, Willow and Xander also shed their street clothes and jumped in, while Giles decided to stay on the deck with the Kolchaks and Father Phil. The three old friends waded out to about neck-deep water while Dawn and Tony started treading a few feet further out.

"So, Xander," Willow asked at barely above a whisper, "you're not creeped out by the priest or anything?"

"No! Why should I be, Will?"

"You know, the thing with Caleb and all."

"That's ridiculous! Why should I be afraid of a real priest just because some bastard who ran around in a phony priest's outfit poked my eye out?"

"If I remember from Psych class," Buffy nodded, "it's called a Conditioned Emotional Response."

"No. That'd be like if American troops in the Battle of the Bulge started shooting each other for wearing American uniforms," Xander replied, a little more loudly.

"Huh?" Buffy and Willow chorused.

"The Battle of the Bulge in World War II. A bunch of German spies and saboteurs infiltrated American lines wearing American uniforms, caused a bunch of panic and confusion for a while. But the Americans didn't start shooting each other because of it."

Tony caught that last bit of conversation. "You a vet, Xander?"

"Not exactly."

"What exactly does 'not exactly' mean?" Tony grinned.

"Should I tell him?" Xander asked the others.

"Sure, why not?" Willow smiled.

"Halloween- what was it, six years ago? A new costume shop opened up in Sunnydale. Then it turned out the proprietor was this old nemesis and former friend of Giles. Did a spell so that everyone whose costume came from the shop turned into whatever they were dressed as. I was dressed as a grunt, Willow was a ghost, and Buffy was an 18th Century noblewoman."

"A very un-Slayerlike, helpless damsel in distressy noblewoman," Buffy added.

"Plus we had all these kids who turned into all kinds of real monsters," Willow said.

"So there I was," Xander continued, "driving off these monsters by shooting up the streets of Sunnydale with a real M-16 and what at the time was an unlimited supply of 5.56 ammo. Anyway, even after Willow and Giles figured it out and broke the spell, I retained all this military information and knowledge."

"Okay," Tony nodded, "so at least we speak the same language." He turned to Dawn. "So what did _you_ dress up as?"

Dawn blushed a second before replying with a giggle, "Hermione Granger... but I didn't turn into her because it was a homemade costume."

"Hermione Granger," Tony smiled, obviously trying to picture it and having trouble doing so.

"Hey! I'd just turned eleven, it was the year the first book came out and years before the first movie! I didn't have to look like Emma Watson!"

"Did anyone even _know_ who the heck Hermione Granger was back then?" Buffy teased. "I believe Dawn was the first American to ever read a Harry Potter book," she elaborated to Tony.

"Way ahead of my time!" Dawn nodded proudly.

"And at least you made a very good generic but non-stereotypical witch," Willow added. "Except for the broomstick..."

There was the ringing of a cell phone in the direction of the deck. All of the Scoobies had the same model phone and had them set to the same plain ring, so they all turned to try to locate the source. After the third ring, Buffy figured it was coming from her pile of clothes on the deck near where her grandparents, Giles and Father Phil were still sitting.

"I guess that's me!" she said as she pulled herself back up on the pier and stepped over toward it.

Buffy's mild annoyance at the cell phone ringing turned to outright bafflement when she looked at the Caller ID display and read "Pay Phone" with a 760 Area Code. Showing it to Carl, she asked, "Grandpa, this is a local exchange, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Who the heck would call me from here?" she asked rhetorically, then flipped open the phone. "Hello?"

"B, it's me!" Faith's voice said in an urgent whisper. "I'm here in Keogh City, at the bus station. I need you guys to come and get me!"

"Faith? What the heck are you doing _here_?"

"I had to get the hell out of Ventura! I called your hotel and Andrew told me you guys were up here for the day. I'll explain when I see you."

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**I've never been to that part of California, but Keogh City/Lake Keogh are to Kernville/Lake Isabella what Sunnydale is to Santa Barbara: a highly fictionalized version of that community, customized for the needs of the story. From what info I can glean from the web about Lake Isabella, I picture Lake Keogh to be a bit more forested, perhaps more temperate and higher in elevation, than its real-life counterpart.**


	9. Chapter 9

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 9

"Okay, give us a few minutes," Buffy told Faith. She hung up and stepped back on the pier. "Dawn, we're gonna have to interrupt our little dip in the lake for a bit. Faith's at the bus station in town and we need to go get her." Dawn was momentarily crestfallen, until Buffy added, "Tony, since you're a local, you want to show us how to get there?"

"Sure," he smiled. "Faith's the dark-haired gal who got on the chopper with the wounded, right?"

Rather than changing out of their bathing suits or wearing them wet under their jeans and T-shirts, the two sisters put on robes that they'd brought along. Tony decided to wear his T-shirt and his wet trunks while sitting on a towel; he took the front passenger seat of the Mercedes as, to Dawn's unspoken gratitude, Buffy volunteered to sit in the back.

"Make a left on the highway," he told Dawn as they went around the driveway and out the exit through the woods. "So you don't like to drive, Buffy?"

"Not really," she replied.

"Buffy only drives in life-or-death situations," Dawn chuckled. "Like the last time she drove-"

"Watch it, Dawnie!" Buffy said. "Remember, we were _all_ affected by Mr. Hottie Quarterback's Enchanted Letterman's Jacket! Even Willow!"

"And, as you pointed out to me, none of us were responsible for our actions." Dawn glanced over to Tony. "Another one of those 'It could only happen in Sunnydale' stories. You had to be there."

"Okay," Tony nodded. "So going back to the other 'Only in Sunnydale' story, what happened to the costume shop proprietor?"

"Oh, yes. Ethan. After that incident, he kept on turning up like a bad penny," Buffy replied, "until one time he turned Giles into a Fyarl demon... You being in the Army and everything, have you ever heard of the Initiative?"

"Not through the military. I've heard stories and rumors, mostly from your grandfather and mine."

"Anyway," Buffy continued, "after I caught up with Ethan and kicked his ass and made him turn Giles back, a friend of mine who was in the Initiative had them haul him away for 'rehabilitation'. Hopefully we won't see him again."

They continued down the winding highway, through the woods and occasionally getting a glimpse of the lake. As they approached Keogh City proper, the area became more developed, the woods less desolate with more houses. As they passed a driveway that led down to a lakeside redwood house similar to but smaller than Carl's, Tony pointed out, "That's my family's place, where I'm staying."

As they passed the city limits, they drove past a few more affluent homes on big lots, especially those on the lake side of the highway, and then went past the gateway to the University of California Keogh City campus. As Tony pointed out the student center, library and other landmarks, the two sisters noted with little surprise that the architecture was quite similar to that of UC Sunnydale, if slightly more modern.

"So what's campus life like here?" Buffy asked. "Is it really that much of a party school? Grandpa was telling us just before you arrived how he had to stop renting his place out as student housing because they were a little too rowdy."

"If I remember right, that was several years back," Tony replied. "The school still has its moments, but it's mellowed out a little. From what I've heard about UC Sunnydale, they were a little wilder than we are."

"Probably because of the Hellmouth," Buffy nodded.

"So how far away's the nearest mall?" Dawn asked.

"From here, just about five miles, on the other side of town," Tony said. "All the modern amenities, but the city council made sure it was in the next valley, out of sight from the lake. Didn't want to ruin the aesthetics of the view."

"I can understand that," Dawn nodded.

Just past the campus, they came through an old commercial zone with a theater, coffee houses, bookstores, small specialty shops and restaurants, which reminded Buffy and Dawn of Maple Court in Sunnydale where The Magic Box, the Sun Cinema and the Espresso Pump had been. The main street then passed through the Town Square, which sloped down to a marina on the lake, and up to City Hall, the Public Library and the bus station.

Dawn pulled the Mercedes into the loading zone in front of the bus station. Tony opened the door and then helped Buffy out of the back seat. Since there was a lot of activity on the lake that day, even in her bathing suit, robe and flip-flops, she didn't look out of place among the other people walking around in the square, and she didn't feel self-conscious as she stepped into the lobby of the bus station.

Buffy scanned the lobby, looking for Faith. She didn't see her on first glance, scanned the room back in the other direction, and was beginning to worry that whatever had forced Faith to leave Ventura had caught up with her. Until a figure in a baggy sweatshirt, jeans and a wide-brimmed straw sun hat got up from a dark corner near the phone booths and came up to her. Buffy saw that Faith was wearing sunglasses with oversized lenses and had the hat brim pulled down low over her face with her hair tucked up inside the crown, and was carrying the large tote bag she'd purchased at the Wal-Mart the day Sunnydale collapsed.

"Hey, B!" Faith whispered. "Thanks for coming! Let's get the hell out of here!"

"So what's going on?"

"Later. Gotta talk to Giles."

Dawn and Tony were still bantering pleasantly in the front seats as Buffy and Faith returned to the Mercedes. Tony got out and pushed the seat back over for the two of them to get in.

"Whoa!" Faith gasped as she got in. "Your grandpa's wheels?"

"Used to be," Buffy smiled as she got in after her. "Dawn's and mine now!" She gestured. "Faith, this is Tony Vincenzo. He's our newest Watcher."

"Hi," she nodded as she slid over to make room for Buffy, then froze. "Whoa! Tony Vincenzo? There's that name again!"

"My grandfather with the same name was their grandfather's editor," Tony said as he and Buffy sat back down and he closed the car door. Dawn started up the car and pulled out and back toward the way they'd come.

"Yeah, I know," Faith nodded. "I bought a DVD of the original _Night Stalker_ movie. Not much to do while you're sitting in a hotel waiting for your boyfriend to recover from a stab in the gut. But the first time in the movie that Kolchak mentioned Tony Vincenzo, I thought I'd heard or read that name somewhere before. Very recently."

"Maybe you read my name tag while we were on the helicopter?" Tony grinned.

Faith gulped and then froze again. "You were on that helicopter?"

"Yep," he nodded.

She remained frozen. "That means you're in the National Guard!"

"Yep."

She turned white. "That means you work for both the State and Federal governments."

"Part time, yeah."

"So Faith. Why'd you have to bug out of Ventura so suddenly?" Dawn asked.

"Later, Dawn," she replied testily, then added. "Gotta talk to Giles."

Tony faced forward, and the canary-eating grin he'd had when they were first introduced to him returned. He waited in silence until they were passing back through the university campus before saying with the continued grin, "Uh, Faith, I already know you're an escaped convict."

There was a collective gasp from the three girls. "How?" Dawn asked. "Grandpa doesn't even know!"

"Like I said, I'm not assigned to the Medevac unit, I was just helping them out that day. But a buddy of mine on that crew called me last night. This past weekend was their regularly scheduled monthly drill weekend, and he told me some deputy warden from the women's prison in Stockton-"

"Eberly!" Faith murmured.

"I didn't catch his name. But anyway, he came by the Medevac unit and questioned the chopper crew. Showed them your mug shot, asking if you were one of the people we evacuated from Sunnydale."

"So he's hot on your trail," Buffy said.

"Listen, Faith," Tony said. "I'm now a Watcher. I'm not on the payroll yet, but I'm one of you now. As far as working for the government part time goes, as long as what you do falls within the realm of plausible deniability, if anyone asks, I'm going to pretend that I didn't recognize you from the chopper, okay?"

"Okay," Faith replied, still a little numb. "Thanks. Yeah, Eberly's hot on my trail. _Real_ hot. I was visiting Robin at the hospital this morning when I just happened to look out the window just as he was getting out of his car in the lot across the street. I barely took the time to tell Robin what was going on, then got out by a back exit. I ran back to the hotel, just threw everything I had in the bag and left without checking out. Took the train to LA, tried to call Giles at the hotel. When Andrew told me you were all up here, I figured it'd be a good way to make my trail go cold if I came up here directly instead of going to Glendale."

"The Sunnydale Police must've tipped this guy off after the fight at The Bronze," Dawn said.

"Probably," Faith nodded. "Eberly's probably grilling Robin at his bedside right now."

"Robin's not going to give away anything," Buffy said, then explained to Tony, "He's the first new Watcher who's joined us since The First Evil started killing off the old Watchers. His mom was a Slayer, her Watcher raised him after she was killed."

"Got news for you," Faith managed a laugh. "Robin doesn't even know my real last name, let alone my real story!"

"That helps," Dawn nodded. "What made you pick Tasker for an alias, anyway?"

"Little inside joke," Faith smiled. "I always thought I looked like the daughter in that movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis."

* * *

"Faith _Lehane_?" Robin Wood squinted at the man. "I didn't even know that was her real name."

"And yet she's been visiting you every day since you arrived in this hospital, according to the security cameras."

"Come on, Mr... Eberly, was it?" Robin was genuinely annoyed. He'd never met his deceased predecessor from Sunnydale High, Principal Snyder, but reputation and old pictures suggested that the officious man in the dark suit with the thinning hair now sitting at his bedside could have been Snyder's taller and heavier kid brother. "In your line of work, what percentage of your convicts have a shady past that they've kept from even their closest intimates?"

"Is that what you are to Miss Lehane? A close intimate?"

Robin gave him an angry _none of your damned business_ glare, then decided he wasn't up for a full-on confrontation. "You may draw your own conclusions. All I know is that this morning, about an hour and a half before you came in here, she looked out the window and then told me she had to leave, that she was going to be out of touch for a while, and the less I knew why, the better."

"Where is she staying?"

"One of the hotels here in town."

"Which one?"

"Oceanside, Oceanview, Ocean Park, Ocean _something_!"

Deputy Warden Eberly gave him an angry glare.

"Hell, I've never been there!" Robin shrugged. "I haven't been off this floor since I got out of surgery!"

"All right," Eberly continued to glare. "Faith Lehane had other associates from Sunnydale. Whom the cameras have shown she spoke to in the emergency room when you and the other wounded were brought in." He showed Robin a picture he'd been holding: a digital security camera printout of Faith, Giles, Buffy and Dawn stepping out of an elevator. "This man and the other two young women among them. They've all been to visit you here in this room."

"The other two young women," Robin sighed, "are Buffy Summers- a former employee of mine, a counselor at Sunnydale High- and her younger sister Dawn who was a student there. The gentleman is a friend of theirs, a Mr. Giles."

Eberly took out a notepad and started scribbling. "You have a first name on this Mr. Giles?"

"Reuben, Rudolf, something like that. Everyone just calls him Giles. In fact, I can't swear for sure if his name is Reuben Giles or Giles Rubin. Or Giles Rudolf. Or if Giles is spelled with a G or a J."

"And where can we find the two Misses Summers and Mr. Giles?"

"Somewhere in the LA area," Robin shrugged again.

Eberly's glare intensified. "Can you narrow that down for us?"

"Some motel or hotel. That's all I've got! They were concerned for my health but they're really not that close friends of mine." He glared back. "_Definitely_ not 'close intimates'!"

* * *

By the time they got out to the back deck of Carl's lodge, Buffy, Dawn and Tony were getting tired of the repeated "Whoa!"s that Faith had been exclaiming with each new sight since they'd turned into the driveway. Thankfully, her last "Whoa!" came when Buffy introduced Faith to Carl and Joan."

"Whoa!" Faith said as she shook the couple's hands, then added, "I'm sorry. But _damn!_ You two really do look like Darren McGavin and Carol Lynley! I just bought a DVD of your original movie."

"Actually," Carl laughed, "I prefer to think that _they_ look like _us_! And thanks for contributing to the family fortune!"

"And this is Father Phil Vincenzo, my uncle," Tony gestured.

"Hi," Faith looked him over as they shook hands. "Does that mean that anything I say in front of you is protected by confidentiality of the clergy?"

"If you wish," Father Phil nodded.

"What's happened, Faith?" Giles asked. "Why'd you have to leave Ventura all of a sudden?"

"Stan Eberly, one of the deputy wardens at Northern California Women's. I saw him from Robin's room this morning, coming in the front door of the hospital, so I slipped out a back exit." Faith then quickly recapped her trip to LA and then to Keogh City, with Tony adding his information about the helicopter crew being questioned.

"I would say the first priority would be to get you out of California, out of their jurisdiction," Giles said. "Wouldn't you agree, Carl?"

"That'd be the smart thing to do," Carl nodded, "although I think we have time to plan this out, not rush. I can't think of anything that would link Faith to this place."

"Robin wouldn't give Eberly any indication I had any connection to you, Mr. Kolchak," Faith said to him.

"Yes," Giles nodded in agreement. "He doesn't even know where exactly in the LA suburbs we're staying."

"Good," Carl nodded. "No reason you can't hole up here for a few days until we figure out how to transport you out of state. Wouldn't want to just drive you across the border and dump you in some desert town in Nevada with no transportation, no identity to get a driver's license and a car."

"Where would I go, then?" Faith asked. "Any ideas?"

"Now that you've brought it up, Faith," Giles said, "I've always considered that, failing an attempt at convincing the State of California that you were swallowed up in the Sunnydale Crater, this present situation would become inevitable. So my idea was to kill as many birds with one stone as possible and send you to Cleveland."

"To this other Hellmouth," Faith said.

"Yes. It's never been nearly as active as the one in Sunnydale, in fact the Council has never been able to localize it. We've just seen manifestations of its existence in the form of demon activity throughout the city and particularly along the Lake Erie waterfront. But not concentrated enough to pinpoint."

"So it's like Sunnydale Lite?" Buffy quipped.

"Yes," Giles smiled back. "But that may be subject to change now that the Sunnydale Hellmouth is closed. Without that outlet, evil, like any other form of pressure, may seek release at the next weakest point."

"Oh, goody!" Faith rolled her eyes. "My very own Hellmouth, all to myself!"

"Actually, no, Faith," Giles said. "I had planned on sending at least one other Slayer with you to Cleveland. And," he nodded toward Joan, "since Mrs. Kolchak has graciously agreed to come out of retirement to supervise the academic instruction here at our new Slayer Academy, that frees your Mr. Wood to go to Cleveland with you as _your_ Watcher!"

Faith's eyes lit up as she gasped and clutched his forearm. "You're serious?" If he was, it was the only good news she'd had all day.

"Yes, Faith," he nodded with a thin smile. "I'm not nearly as averse to romantic relationships between Slayers and Watchers as Travers and the Old Council were. Especially if the romantic relationship was established before the Slayer-Watcher partnership. And actually, Robin would be more of a Watcher to the other Slayer or Slayers than to yourself, with your experience."

To the surprise of the Scooby Gang, Faith's eyes misted as she kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Giles!"

Giles blushed briefly. "Quite welcome." He cleared his throat. "Now, as I've said, I've had this plan in the back of my mind all along. We just have to expedite things now. We need to start setting this place up as the new Slayer and Watcher Academy. Hopefully by the time we actually start to move in and operate out of here, Faith will be safely out of here, across the state line and on her way to Cleveland. So we can all have plausible deniability with regard to any potential criminal charges in helping her get away."

"So how _do_ I get to Cleveland?" Faith asked.

"I have a plan for that, too," Giles nodded. "My biggest worry right now is how to contact Robin without tipping this Deputy Warden off or leading him straight to us. I think it's a reasonable assumption that by now, he's got Robin's phone at the hospital tapped and set up for tracing of calls."

"We could call him from disposable cell phones," Xander suggested.

"And send _him_ a disposable cell phone by Fed Ex," Dawn added. "That way they can't listen in."

"That'll work, as a stopgap measure," Willow nodded, "but I was also thinking, as long as we're turning this place into Hogwarts West and you want to make us hard to find or trace..."

"Putting a glamour around this place?" Giles smiled. "That would take a lot of mystic energy."

"Oh, no!" Willow replied. "Nothing magical. I was thinking more along the lines of setting up a web server and having net-based phone service. With an off-site server and firewall, so they can't even tell what country we're calling from, let alone find our location."

"Yeah!" Dawn grinned. "This off-site firewall could be like a virtual Platform Nine and Three Quarters!"

"I'll let you two handle that," Giles sighed, then smiled thinly.

"Yes," Buffy said. "We'll let Minerva and Hermione do the work!" Willow shot her a wry glare and she smiled. "Hey! You're the one who called this place 'Hogwarts West'!"

"Actually, Buffy," Joan said, "your grandpa and Giles and I talked about it on the way up. There's only one thing we're going to call this place!"

* * *

A little later, at Joan and Carl's suggestion, Dawn and Tony went back out and he showed her the way to the supermarket, where they bought food for a dinner cookout on the back deck, as well as several days' worth of provisions for Faith. They got back in plenty of time to resume their dip in the lake with the others, with Faith changing into her swimsuit and also joining them. Faith was actually able to relax and let go of, if not forget, the stresses of the whole day.

Owing to the approach of the Summer Solstace, it was still light when they finished dinner, bade goodbye to Tony and Father Phil, left Faith at the lodge and headed back in the two car convoy to Glendale, but it was almost 11 PM by the time they'd returned and Giles summoned all the Slayers who were over eighteen into his suite living room, where he, Xander and Andrew were waiting with Buffy and Willow. Kennedy, Vi, Tracie and Gillian all sat on one couch; Kennedy took the end farthest from Willow, who mentally told herself not to read too much into it.

"The reason I've called you all here," Giles began, "is that there have been a couple of new developments. In a few days, we're all going to be checking out of this hotel and relocating to Mr. Kolchak's estate up in Lake Keogh. But I need the four of you, as legal adults, to consider a possible alternate assignment, so to speak. As you all probably know, Faith has what I shall refer to as a 'checkered past.'" He sighed, then continued, "This morning, that past nearly caught up to her. I won't go into any further details at this point. As I've also mentioned, there is another Hellmouth in Cleveland, Ohio, which will eventually need to be covered on a permanent basis as we had in Sunnydale. What I need is one or two Slayers who are legal adults with drivers licenses. What I propose is to purchase a car and register it as a corporate vehicle belonging to the Council, and for those one or two Slayers to drive to Cleveland in that car with Faith and set up a base of operations there along with Faith and Mr. Wood as a team. I don't need an answer right away, just think about it for the next day or so while we set our move to Lake Keogh in motion."

It was only a couple of seconds before Kennedy shot a quick glance at Willow without allowing the establishment of eye contact, then raised her hand and said, "Sure, I'll go to Cleveland."

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**Allen: I hope this answers some of your questions and concerns. Not going to give away too much, but your thinking is a lot like mine.**

**Originally, before Joss Whedon came out with the retroactive canon announcement about Faith's last name being Lehane, I was going to have her real last name be Tasker per the _True Lies_ reference. I figured that even though it was retroactive, I'd go along with the Lehane canon.**


	10. Chapter 10

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 10

"Gee, Ken!" Willow stage-whispered as the two of them stepped back in the hallway, "Thanks for letting me know in advance!"

"Oh, c'mon, Red!" Kennedy replied. "We both know it's time to move on!"

"Maybe so," Willow looked at her. "And I guess there _are_ less subtle, less diplomatic, more public ways of letting me know. Like flying hijacked airliners into a skyscraper, or sinking a bunch of battleships on a Sunday morning without declaring war first!"

"It was fun while it lasted," Kennedy shrugged, "but we both knew it wouldn't."

Willow followed her into their room, then quickly packed up her toiletries and nightclothes and walked out without a word. She stepped back into the hall to see Buffy and Xander waiting for her.

"You okay, Will?" Xander asked.

"I suppose," she nodded, then followed them into the living room of the Kolchaks' suite, where Dawn was still up and surfing the web on her iBook. "Just a little incensed." She turned to Buffy. "Your grandparents won't mind if I sleep on the couch here, will they?"

"What happened?" Dawn asked.

"Kennedy just volunteered to go with Faith to Cleveland," Buffy told her.

"Announcing it very publicly without a word of discussion with me first," Willow fumed.

Dawn made an exaggerated gasp. "Whoa! Big shock here!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willow looked at her.

"It means," Xander said, "that I could've been wearing the patch on the wrong eye all along and still would have seen it coming a mile away!"

"And maybe I've never been on a real date- at least one that wasn't triggered by an enchanted jacket," Dawn said, "or that didn't end with me killing the guy because he turned out to be a vamp who was trying to turn me. But even _I_ could tell there was no chemistry in that relationship." She smiled more gently. "She's not Tara. But then again no one but Tara was."

"I feel so used!" Willow grimaced. She turned to Buffy. "But you all saw it coming?"

"Xander and Dawn are right," Buffy said. "Nobody's really surprised. No real chemistry." She paused and added, "Don't be so hard on yourself, Will. You're not the first person who's had a fling that was headed nowhere. At least it wasn't a one-night stand."

"Does Kennedy know that Faith doesn't go both ways?" Dawn asked with a slight giggle. "Maybe just because Faith was in prison, Kennedy assumes that she's learned to switch hit."

"Boy, is she in for a big letdown!" Buffy laughed.

"Well," Willow sighed, then looked at Buffy and Xander, "at least the three of us are in the same boat now, as far as our love lives go."

"Not exactly," Xander smiled sadly. "At least your last lover didn't die violently, with the Sunnydale Crater for a final resting place."

"Yes, she did!" Willow snapped back sharply, and Xander turned beet-red. "The more I think about it, the less and less I think of Kennedy as any kind of lover. Whatever we might have done physically, you were the ones who just pointed out that what we had was nothing like what I had with Tara." Willow smiled with a wicked gleam in her eye. "But if you insist on classifying Kennedy as my last lover, the violent death thing can be arranged too! Or better yet, ever since Amy became human again, I kind of miss having a pet rat..."

"But at least Dawnie has a love life!" Buffy laughed, looking for a quick way to change the subject. "That's a switch!"

"Me?" Dawn squealed. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Dawnie!" Buffy giggled. "Everyone saw the way you and Mr. War Veteran Helicopter Machine-Gunner were looking at each other!"

"I could see _that_ a mile away with the patch on the wrong eye too!" Xander grinned.

"Hey, I just met the guy this morning!" Dawn turned red. "Don't rush me!"

"Who's rushing who?" Buffy smiled. "It's okay. Grandpa says he's a good kid. He told me he wasn't out to play matchmaker, but he's not surprised at how the two of you hit it off."

* * *

The next few days were largely involved with vehicles. The first task that next morning was for Andrew to drive the Sunnydale school bus near the Ventura Armory, where the Sunnydale Relocation Support Center had been set up, and park just within sight of the security checkpoint with the keys in the ignition, and for Giles to follow immediately in his rental car and drive him back to Glendale as quickly as possible. They then returned the rental car; Dawn was waiting for them at the car rental, and from there drove them to shop for a car for Giles and one for Kennedy and Faith to drive to Cleveland. Buffy, Willow and Xander, in the meantime, began shopping for vans with which to transport the Slayers. Although Willow and Xander would be able to borrow the vans, Buffy and Dawn's Mercedes or Giles's car as needed in the immediate future, they began casually shopping around for their own wheels in the process.

In between vehicle shopping trips, Willow and Dawn began working on setting up their "Virtual Platform Nine and Three Quarters". Robson had been gradually hiring a small support staff for his office at an old Council satellite building in the Colindale section of London, mostly from his own relatives and close acquaintances and those of some of the deceased Old Council members. A couple of the staff were quite computer literate, and coordinated with Willow and Dawn in setting up so that any phone calls or web activity at Lake Keogh appeared to originate in Colindale, which was an already known location to those outsiders familiar with the Council. In the meantime, and along the same lines, Xander and Andrew established a mail drop-off address in LA for the Slayer Academy.

Within a few days, armed with the Swiss bank account, the mail drop-off LA street address and the old and little-used Federal corporate tax number of the Old Council, they had struck a discount deal with a Chrysler/Dodge dealer and purchased two new Dodge vans, a new Chrysler Sebring for Xander and Willow to share similar to the one Xander had lost in the crater, and a used three year old Chevy for Kennedy and Faith. On his own, Giles found a three year old BMW convertible coupe similar to the one he had owned before his return to England, although in a more conservative silver. They'd also set up debit card accounts for Faith and Kennedy, mailing Faith's card to the house on Lake Keogh along with a disposable cell phone.

There was a party for Kennedy the night before she left; it was mostly the other new Slayers marking her departure, with the Scoobies making a token appearance. Willow's was the most token, with her saying nothing and presenting body language that said little more than "no hard feelings". Willow did, however, call Faith on the cell phone and tell her to be sure to call as soon as Kennedy got there; the simple fact was that she couldn't rule out the possibility that Kennedy was going to use this as an opportunity to break free not just from Willow but from the New Council's control, and leave Faith in the lurch.

The next morning, Buffy, Giles, Vi and Rona got up to see Kennedy off. Three hours later, the Scoobies breathed a sigh of relief when Faith called Buffy's cell number and confirmed that Kennedy had arrived. Everyone breathed an even bigger sigh early that afternoon when Faith called again to tell them she and Kennedy were across the state line in Nevada.

* * *

Everyone waited a few days for Faith and Kennedy's trail to go cold, and then there was a lot of shuttling back and forth between Glendale and Lake Keogh, mostly on the part of Giles, Buffy, Willow, Dawn and the Kolchaks as they prepared the lodge for habitation and operation, with the rest continuing to stay put and relax at the hotel. To Dawn's delight, Tony showed up frequently at the lodge to help Giles and Buffy with setting up the gym and a training plan, and to help her and Willow with the setup of "Virtual Platform Nine and Three Quarters".

The next Saturday, Tony asked Dawn out to the movies at the Mall multiplex. After checking the theater's website and having a quick deliberation on the selection, they decided on _Whale Ride_r over _Hulk_, _Finding Nemo_ and _Dumb and Dumberer_.

"I'll give it the benefit of the doubt," Tony smiled as they got into his Pontiac. "I'm not assuming it's a Chick Flick."

"I don't think it is, either," Dawn replied.

They stopped at one of the fancier Italian restaurants just off the UCKC campus for dinner, then held hands throughout the movie.

"So it _wasn't_ a Chick Flick," he nodded as they drove back to the lodge.

"Not really," she replied. "More about cultural upheaval."

"Kinda like with the Slayers and what we're doing with the New Council," he chuckled. "A New Order, girls getting their due and more of a say-so in their own futures."

"But there have always been female Watchers," she said. "Or almost always."

"And _they_ usually got the short end of the stick, from what your own grandpa tells me about his own dealings with the Old Council. And we're talking more about the _Slayers_ getting their due."

They continued the discussion on the drive, drawing parallels and similarities between the Maori girl heroine and her tribe, and the situation with the Slayers and the New Council. When they pulled into the lodge driveway and got out, they looked up at a clear and starry sky, still with a faint band of orange light on the Western horizon from the late-setting near-solstace night.

"Let's go around back to the deck," she suggested. "May be a little too dark and too cool for a swim, but we can sit."

"Sounds good to me," he smiled as he went around the car and resumed holding her hand, "but let's go through the house and let Buffy and your grandparents know we're back."

"Oh!... Okay."

They went into the main foyer. They looked up to find Buffy standing on the landing of the bedroom level, leaning against the rail.

"We're back! Safe and sound!" Tony grinned up at her.

"You guys have fun?" Buffy smiled back.

"Oh, yeah," Dawn nodded. "Great movie. You should check it out yourself."

"Maybe sometime," Buffy said. "Not ready to get back into going to the movies yet."

"Yeah," Dawn nodded knowingly. "We'll be out in back."

The young couple went down the stairwell to the lounge and then out the door onto the deck. Across the lake, the lights of other houses and buildings sparkled and reflected in the water while the band of light in the sky continued to shrink and disappear behind the mountains.

"You seemed pretty eager to let Buffy know we were back," Dawn noted as they sat down.

"As a newly appointed Watcher, I wouldn't want to piss off the Senior Slayer, " Tony grinned. He hesitated before adding, "Buffy made a point of letting me know that this was your first real date."

Dawn felt herself turning bright red, and was grateful that it was too dark to be that noticeable. "She told you that? God! She's my sister, and she's saved my life, and I love her, but I oughta kick her ass for that!"

He laughed. "Could you? I know you're a Slayer too, now, but she's got, like, seven years' experience on you."

"I'm bigger than she is!"

"She said it was your first _real_ date. Was there something up with Mr. Hottie Quarterback and the Enchanted Letterman's Jacket?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but Buffy interrupted that pretty early on." She laughed. "Then _she_ fell under the jacket's spell."

"Must've been a real mess!"

"It was. Then there was the time in 9th Grade I snuck out of Xander and Anya's Halloween party with a guy, who turned out to be a vamp who wanted to turn me. He ended up being my first kill." Dawn suddenly realized that, although it had been a quite painful as well as embarrassing experience at the time, she had no trouble talking about it with Tony.

"Only in Sunnydale," he laughed softly and shook his head.

"Only in Sunnydale," she laughed with him, and then before they knew it, they had leaned their heads in toward each other and were engaged in a series of soft, gentle, and increasingly slower and deeper kisses.

Afterward, they continued smiling into each other's flushed faces. Dawn tried to think of something witty to say, and came out with, "Oh, please don't make me have to kill you now!"

Tony laughed, while Dawn realized what she'd just said and turned red again. "Don't tell me!" he shook his head. "You kissed the vamp before he tried to bite you. And it was your first kiss."

"Well, um, well..." She regained her composure. Her defenses were down and yet she felt safe and comfortable . "Let me put it another way. _You're_ my first kiss... with a real live boy- uh, _man! Man!_" Her blush returned.

"It's okay," he said, and she could see his reassurance was genuine. "And... I'm not all that experienced with the socializing with the opposite sex, either." There was a sudden shyness in his look.

Her eyes opened wide. "Really? No way!"

"Why is that so hard to believe?" he replied, genuinely hurt.

"You're a soldier. You've been in a war and killed people!"

"Different kind of war, but so have you!"

"I haven't killed any _real people_ people!" she squealed.

"Plus, I'm not that much older than you, Dawn. _And_ I'm a good Catholic boy, my uncle's a priest, thirteen years of parochial school with nuns, saving it for marriage. The whole works."

"Mom couldn't afford parochial school for me and Buffy. But I guess I'm a good Catholic girl, more or less."

"So your mom was pretty religious? Your grandpa's a pretty devout Catholic, he always shows up for Sunday Mass at Uncle Phil's church when he's home here in KC. And your grandma came with him the one weekend he brought her up here after they got back together."

"Grandma's pretty devout too. I guess that's part of why she never divorced Grandpa after she left him. She raised Mom and Aunt Polly as pretty strict Catholics. Mom took me and Buffy to Mass every Sunday when we were younger. After Buffy became the Slayer, she was usually too tired on Sunday mornings to come along after being up slaying all night Saturdays, so Mom gave up on trying to drag her along. But I continued to go with Mom until... the end. I even went by myself after Mom was gone, even though I was being looked after by two Wiccans." She paused thoughtfully and then giggled. "I think it has less to do with Mom and Grandma being so devout than with the fact that, in a previous incarnation, I was kept in a Czech monastery in the custody of monks for over a thousand years!"

Tony's eyebrows raised. "Is this the thing that everybody keeps telling me not to ask you about? About why either you or Buffy had to jump off a tower to save the world?"

"Yes," Dawn nodded and straightened up in her seat. "And I think I'll save _that_ story for another time."

"So will I see you with your grandparents at Uncle Phil's church tomorrow morning?"

"Count on it!" Dawn smiled.

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**My apologies to anyone following this story for taking so long to update. I honestly thought, working for a public school system, that I'd get a lot of this story done and posted during my summer vacation. Unfortunately, a lot of travel and some significant hardware and software problems that put my computer in the shop for several weeks threw a few kinks into my plans. Plus, to overcome writer's block, I followed my muses and started working on the other books in this story. At least I got this chapter up by Labor Day!**

**;-)**


	11. Chapter 11

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 11

The next Monday, Virtual Platform Nine and Three Quarters was up and running, and Willow and Dawn had reassured Giles that every phone call and E-Mail originating from the lodge would appear to come from Colindale in London. The unused, soon-to-be-occupied rooms in the lodge were already furnished for the most part, but there were still a few items that were ordered and delivered. Owing largely to Giles' technophobia, Dawn found herself busy in Buffy's new office above the bedroom level, printing out hard copies of the personal information on each Slayer who was with them, and placing them in file folders. When finished, she carried the stack of files across the hall to Giles' new office.

As she placed the files in a filing cabinet, she glanced over to Giles' desk and then did a double-take: he was sitting at his desk, almost motionless with his hand resting on his phone receiver in its cradle, and his face had a blank stare and was several shades whiter than normal.

"Giles?" she asked as she stepped through the door. "You all right?"

Giles blinked and turned toward her. "Oh! Yes, Dawn," he said absently. "Thank you."

"You look like someone who's just seen a ghost," she said, then added with a chuckle, "which, considering who you are, means it has to be something way, way scarier than that!"

"As a matter of fact..." he nodded. "Please close the door, Dawn."

She did so. "What is it?"

"I just tried ringing up Wesley Wyndam-Pryce at the number to Angel Investigations," he said. "Thought I'd ask him if he'd be interested in participating in the new Council. And to ask for his father's number in England to ask if he might be interested in coming out of retirement."

Dawn frowned. "Something's happened to Wesley?"

"I'm afraid something's happened to all of Angel Investigations. When I dialed the number, the call was forwarded to the offices of Wolfram and Hart."

Dawn gulped. "The evilest of the evil law firms took over Angel Investigations? Or wiped them out?"

"Even stranger than that! I actually got through to Wyndam-Pryce, or at least to someone who sounds exactly like him. And he tells me that Angel is now the CEO of the Los Angeles office of Wolfram and Hart, and that the rest of Angel Investigations is now essentially their Board of Directors!"

"God! How unbelievably weird is that? Does that mean Angel and his whole crew have all turned evil?"

"I honestly don't know what to make of it, Dawn," Giles said. "I didn't ask him about participating in the Council, of course. But I did get his parents' phone number... Let's not tell Buffy or the others yet. Not until I talk to Wyndam-Pryce Senior and see what _he_ makes of it."

* * *

The physical healing was nearly complete, but Robin Wood had felt totally abandoned during the week and a half since Faith had bolted from his hospital room with the most cursory of explanations. He'd had no visitors other than the one occasion with Deputy Warden Stan Eberly that same day since then, and no phone calls. Over his life, and particularly just before his mother's death when she'd told him "The mission is what matters", he'd learned to develop a mask and an emotional wall to hide his hurt. He'd sharpened that skill over his admittedly short career as a teacher and school administrator. But now he had gone over ten days of no contact with Faith, or even from Giles or the Summers sisters, and had the knowledge that Faith was an escaped convict with a deputy warden presumably hot on her trail. Behind that mask, Robin Wood had quickly reverted to the abandoned and hurt four year old boy who'd lost his mother even before Spike had taken her life in the New York subway.

The day before he was to be discharged, he was feeling totally lost. The arrival that morning of a small FedEx package containing a disposable cell phone and a debit card buoyed his spirits momentarily, but they sank after a quick realization that he had no idea what number to call to reach anybody, or what the PIN for the debit card was, and sank deeper each passing hour that the cell phone ring tone remained silent. When it finally sounded just before dinner time, he almost jumped out of bed as he reached for it.

"Hello?"

"Robin? Giles here!"

He caught his breath, quickly hiding his excitement at finally hearing from someone. "Giles! Have you heard from Faith?"

"I'm afraid that's not a matter for discussion," Giles replied without expression in his voice. "We must disavow any knowledge of anybody named Faith."

Robin's heart sank again. "I see."

"Listen, we have a new assignment for you now that you're being discharged."

"Headmaster of the new academy like we discussed?" Robin asked hopefully.

"Actually, no. Buffy and Dawn's grandmother, who is a retired teacher and assistant principal, will be taking on that responsibility. Your other experiences in our line of work are needed elsewhere."

"Where?"

"Can't discuss that over the phone. Listen carefully. The debit card we sent with the phone has twenty thousand dollars in the account to help you get started, then your salary as a Watcher will be deposited to that account directly." Giles gave the PIN number, then continued. "When you get discharged, make your way to the Whispering Waves motel in Oxnard. There will be a room, prepaid, in your name. You'll receive further instructions there."

"That's it?" Robin couldn't hide the incense and hurt in his voice.

"For now," Giles replied. "You'll be met at your final destination and have the means to communicate with me by more secure means if you have any questions. Sorry to be so short with you, old fellow, but things will be much clearer later." He heard Giles hang up before he could get another word in.

He was well enough to get to the elevator and down to the first floor, where there was an ATM. The debit card and password worked as expected, and he was able to find a new set of clothes in the hospital gift shop that fit him, to replace the ones that had been ruined when he was wounded or had been cut away in the emergency room; with the inflated gift shop prices and limited selection, he decided to wait until after he was discharged to buy any more clothing.

Although the hospital staff had been friendly throughout his stay, he felt no sorrow in leaving the next morning. But there was no great joy either; the cryptic phone call from Giles did nothing to brighten his outlook. He bade a warm and thankful goodbye to the floor nurses and his doctors, then quietly got into the cab that took him on the short drive to the neighboring town of Oxnard and the Whispering Waves motel.

It was a rather nondescript motel, old but clean and well-maintained, only three blocks from the beach. He went in the office where a plump, brassy-haired woman of about forty stepped out to the desk from a back room.

"Good morning," she smiled. "How can I help you?"

"Hello. My name's Robin Wood. I understand you have a prepaid room in my name?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. Wood," she replied cheerfully. "Xander Harris is an old friend of my brother's. He paid for the room in cash starting as soon as it became vacant on Monday. He came back last night, left a few things in the room for you. Told me to tell you to make sure you check the desk drawer." She handed him a room key. "You're in Room 23, to the right and around the corner as you go out the front door."

"Thank you."

The room itself was clean and nicely furnished, more up-to-date than the exterior. The "few things" that Xander had left were a matching soft-sided roller suitcase and handcarry bag which Robin opened to find filled with a complete new wardrobe and all other necessities for a permanent move or a long trip. He had to give credit to Xander, and presumably the Summers sisters, for closely matching his tastes in clothing.

He went to the desk drawer where he found a sealed plain manila envelope with his name printed on it. He opened it and found two items: an airline ticket folder for a one-way trip with two connections, departing Oxnard airport to Los Angeles leaving at 10:15 the next morning; Los Angeles to Chicago O'Hare; final leg O'Hare to Cleveland. The other item was a computer-printed note which read: "An airport limo will pick you up at 7:15 in the morning. -RG".

Cleveland wasn't a big surprise. While not mentioning the possibility of his being sent there, Giles and Buffy had earlier mentioned the existence of its Hellmouth and the need to eventually station a team of Slayers there. He wasn't too excited about Cleveland, but he was ready to move on. Sunnydale and its Hellmouth were finished, and so was his work there. It was a big letdown that he hadn't been given the chance to surprise Faith as he'd promised, but he couldn't fault her for that. And it was nothing new. It definitely wasn't the first time he'd tried to love a Slayer and ended up abandoned by her.

He spent the rest of the day along the beach, walking in short stretches before tiring out from his still healing wounds and resting on the nearest bench. After weeks in the hospital, lying on his back with nothing to do but watch TV, he definitely didn't need to do the same in a motel room. He treated himself to a good lunch, and later a good dinner with a couple of drinks, and slept fairly well considering the changes he was going through in his life. Surprisingly, even though the majority of evacuated former Sunnydale residents had ended up in the Ventura-Oxnard area, he didn't run into anyone he recognized, nor did anyone approach him despite his high-profile job and distinct appearance.

He was up early the next morning, had breakfast in the diner next door to the motel, and was back and waiting when the airport limousine driver knocked on the door right on time.

There were a few other passengers already on the van and a few more picked up on the way, and most of them were rather chatty. Robin kept his responses polite but short as the others tried to draw him into their conversation.

He made it through security with no problems, although he did have to go through the additional searches, presumably due to his one-way trip and probably because of short-notice booking as well; he was both surprised and relieved that he wasn't put on the No-Fly list; evidently Deputy Warden Eberly and the California Department of Corrections no longer considered him a suspected accomplice in Faith's escape and disappearance, or at least couldn't justify preventing him from leaving the state.

He was seated alone in his row on the short commuter flight to LAX, and the man in the next seat on the flight to O'Hare-- the longest leg-- was, thankfully, a business or lawyer type who spent the entire flight absorbed in some documents on his laptop, and Robin himself was able to lean back and listen to the smooth jazz channel on his headphones. It was dinnertime before he was to board at O'Hare for the last leg, so treated himself to another good dinner at one of the pricier restaurants at the O'Hare airport mall.

As he boarded the 737 for the flight to Cleveland, he found himself seated next to a woman in her sixties. When the plane leveled off at cruising altitude, she turned to him. "Is this your first time in Cleveland?"

"More or less," he smiled back politely. "I've passed through a few times, never really stayed there."

"I've lived there almost all my life. I'm on my way home from my granddaughter's wedding in Seattle."

"Oh, how nice," he nodded.

"Are you just visiting?"

_None of your damned business, Lady!_ Robin contemplated just saying that, but he was still too much of a gentleman. "No, I'm starting a new job there."

"Oh, how nice!" the woman smiled. "What line of work are you in?"

"I was in educational administration," he said, then added, "But my new job is more along the lines of law enforcement."

"Do you have family in Cleveland?"

"No. I'm kind of starting a new life."

"That's a tough thing to do at any age."

"Yes, it is," he nodded noncommittally.

"Are you from Chicago?"

"No," Robin sighed. "Just caught a connection like you did."

"Where are you coming from, then?"

"Sunnydale, California."

"Oh!" The woman turned bright red. Robin leaned back, seeing that he had succeeded in shutting her up. He forced himself not to smile.

Everything that had happened so far was as Giles had said it would, so Robin had no reason to doubt that he would be met at the Cleveland airport. He briefly brought forward in his mind the thought that he'd kept in the back all along, the possibility that it might be Faith. _Oh, who the hell am I kidding? Even if she hadn't gone into hiding and had stayed in contact with the new Council, there's no way Giles would allow us to stay together!_ As the hour-long flight landed and he found his way to Baggage Claim, he began searching the concourse for a familiar face. Presumably one of the Slayers. He finally saw the familiar face at the baggage carousel: Kennedy, the girl who fancied herself a Drill Sergeant to the other Potentials, and who was involved with Willow.

"Hi, Mr. Wood!" she smiled. "Welcome to Cleveland."

"Just Robin's fine," he smiled back as he shook her hand. "Good to see you, Kennedy." He paused. "Is Willow here too?"

"No, we're not together anymore. I'm solo."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm not!" she replied quickly. "It was time to move on."

"I see," he nodded. He decided it was too public a place to ask any more questions. He waited until he saw his roller suitcase come out on the carousel and picked it up, then remained quiet as he followed Kennedy to the parking garage where she led him to a white Chevy and opened the trunk.

He put his luggage in the trunk, seated himself and waited for her to pull out of the parking space before speaking again. "Kennedy, Giles was extremely cryptic in his instructions. What's the situation?"

"You know about the Hellmouth here, right?"

"Yes. Giles told me earlier that it hasn't quite been localized, but the manifestations are unmistakable."

"Well," Kennedy said, "you and I are the vanguard for covering this Hellmouth. Giles intends to send out one or two more Slayers to join us after they've been trained up."

"Sounds good. So what do we have for living accommodations?"

"We're renting a three bedroom house. Actually, the Council is renting the house for us. Not a bad neighborhood as far as Cleveland goes."

"That's good to know." He waited for her to pay for the parking and get on the highway, then asked hesitantly, "So, Kennedy, has anyone heard from Faith?"

"Well, the story is that she called Buffy and Giles right after you saw her last at the hospital. She said some deputy prison warden was hot on her trail and that she had to disappear for a while."

"And that's the last anyone's heard from her?"

"That's the story I got," she shrugged.

It would have been too much to get his hopes up over Faith, so he wasn't too let down. "So tell me more about this Hellmouth."

"Well, what Giles told me was that the old council was pretty sure it exists, but they could never pinpoint it beyond that it was probably close to the waterfront."

"That I already knew," he nodded.

"Well, that seems to be holding up," she continued. "I've been patrolling here for almost a week now and I've encountered and staked four vamps, all within five blocks of Lake Erie and most on the east side of town."

"Have you seen any other kind demons?"

"Nope."

"Something tells me we will," he nodded knowingly, "now that Sunnydale's gone."

"Bring 'em on!" Kennedy grinned.

"Ah, the recklessness of youth!" he laughed.

"I prefer to think of it as fearlessness."

They turned off the highway and into a residential neighborhood; despite the late hour, since Ohio was so much farther north than Southern California, it was still twilight, and Robin could see that it was a by no means affluent but still modest middle class neighborhood with small, older stand-alone houses on small lots. Most of the homes and yards were well kept. Kennedy pulled into the driveway of a plain white single-story rancher. "Home Sweet Home," she smiled.

She handed Robin the key after unlocking the front door. The house still had a "just moved in" look and had a bare minimum of older but serviceable furniture and appliances. She showed him the living room, dining room and kitchen, the briefly opened a door to the basement steps. "I was thinking we could turn it into a training room of sorts, the way Buffy had her basement back in Sunnydale."

"Sounds good to me."

Kennedy then led him down the hallway. "This is my room on the right here, bathroom's on the left, and your room's the one at the end of the hall."

"Good," he said. "It's been a long day. I think I'll turn in, if you don't mind."

"Fine. I'm going out on patrol in a while." Kennedy smiled as she added, "I think you'll find everything you need in the room."

He took his baggage down the hall, opened the door, and then froze with his jaw dropping open.

There she was, lying on her side on the bed in a black silk robe, her bare legs crossed demurely.

"Surprise!" Faith smiled, her eyes glistening with tears. She got up, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him tenderly and deeply.

And for the first time in his life, Robin Wood let down the wall of stoic toughness he'd been forced to put up all his life, and burst into tears. For the first time in his life, a Slayer that he loved had finally returned to him.

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**Once again, my apologies to anyone following this story for taking so long to update. This is the second-busiest time of the year at my job, always hectic and chaotic.**

**;-)**


	12. Chapter 12

THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER

BOOK 1: HOME BASE

by

LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA

(AKA "MadTom")

* * *

CHAPTER 12

After the Sunnydale survivors had packed up and checked out of the Harwood Terrace, Buffy and Dawn led the small convoy in their Mercedes as the vehicles worked their way to the highway northward to Lake Keogh. Their grandparents and Giles had left the day before as there were some final preparations they needed to make at the lodge before the arrival of the main body. Next in line was the McDade family van; although Pauline remained adamant that Cyndi and Colette were to have no involvement with the Slayer world, Carl and Joan had invited the whole branch of the family to the housewarming of the new boarding school, with Carl promising Pauline that this was not a plot to entice his other two granddaughters into wanting to attend there. Next in line was Xander in his and Willow's new car. The two new vans carrying the Slayers were last, driven respectively by Willow and Andrew.

"So what do you think the surprise is?" Buffy asked Dawn after they'd been on the road awhile and were headed up into the wooded hills.

"Nobody said there was anything about a surprise," Dawn shrugged.

"Oh, come on, Dawnie! When it comes to trying to surprise us, Grandma has got to be the worst person in the whole world at hiding secrets. At least in terms of facial expressions and body language!"

"Three months ago, I would have agreed with you. But three months ago, we'd spent our entire lives believing she was a widow and that her quote-unquote late husband-- our supposedly deceased grandfather-- was named Kirk Wilson!"

"This is true!" Buffy laughed. "But she's been still giving off her usual signs."

"Well, let's just let her surprise us."

Presently, they reached the stone fence that marked the beginning of Carl's property, and as Dawn steered the car onto the driveway, they noticed a cloth tarp over one of the two short pillars that marked the opening in the fence. "I suppose that's part of the surprise, whatever it is," Buffy noted.

"That's a reasonable assumption," Dawn replied. Their assumption was confirmed as they came out of the wooded area and their grandfather's lodge came into view, and they noticed another larger tarp of the same material about two feet high and hanging above the full width of the main doorway. Dawn's eyes brightened and the impending surprise was pushed to the back of her mind when she saw Tony standing on the front steps with Father Phil along with Carl, Joan and Giles.

The vehicles of the convoy pulled up along the driveway and their occupants emptied out. Andrew and the Slayers, who had never been there before, stared and gasped with varying degrees of awe, as did Pauline, Matt and their three children.

"Good morning, everyone!" Giles called out from the front steps. "Everyone, please gather round!"

Buffy and Dawn stepped up next to their grandparents, with Dawn between Buffy and Tony, who reached out and held her hand.

"Welcome to the new Slayer and Watcher school and Council Headquarters," Giles continued. "By way of introduction, the gentleman to my left is the Reverend Father Philip C. Vincenzo, the pastor of Saint George Church here in Keogh City, who shall be our unofficial school chaplain. Next to him is his nephew and our newest Watcher, Mr. Anthony A. Vincenzo the Third," he smiled, "who also happens to be _Specialist_ Anthony A. Vincenzo the Third of the California Army National Guard. He may seem familiar to those of you who were flown out of Sunnydale on the medevac helicopter. And yes, for those of you who've familiarized yourself with Mr. Kolchak and his papers, or the television adaptations thereof, Father Philip and Tony are respectively the son and grandson of Mr. Kolchak's late editor."

Carl took a step forward. "Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander, when you first came up here with Giles to see the place, you started referring to it as 'Hogwarts West'." He paused to let the laughter pass through the small crowd. "But as Joan and Giles and I said at the time, we'd already decided that there was only one thing that we were going to name this place." He and Joan stepped over and both grabbed hold of a cord attached to one end of the tarp over the doorway. "Buffy and Dawn," he smiled at his granddaughters, "could you please grab hold of the cord on the other end, and pull on the count of three?" They stepped over and grabbed. "One, two, three!"

The tarp fell away to reveal a large and shiny brass plaque over the doorway with raised Old English letters which read:

Joyce Summers Academy

Buffy and Dawn stared up at the plaque, and then both burst into tears as they rushed over and grabbed their grandparents and Giles in a group hug. "Thank you!" they both said.

"As we told you," Joan smiled, her eyes watering as well, "there was only one thing we could name this place!"

Pauline stepped forward, sniffling as she hugged her parents and her nieces.

Carl sniffled back his own tears, then cleared his throat and announced: "Everyone, welcome to your new home. Before we step inside, Father Phil will lead us in the dedication of our new academy."

"Shall we all bow our heads?" Father Phil intoned. "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." He, the Kolchaks, Dawn, Tony, the McDades and those slayers who were practicing Catholics all crossed themselves.

"Father in Heaven," he continued, "we humbly ask you to bestow your blessings upon this new school and home, and upon those who shall live and learn within its walls and upon its grounds. May you bless and protect those who have chosen and have been chosen to be your warriors in your battles against the forces of darkness and evil. Guide them with your light as they walk in that darkness, that they may never stray from the path of your righteousness. Give them your strength, both physical and spiritual, that they may never falter or fear in the face of evil. We ask you to remember your daughter Joyce, in whose memory her earthly parents have named this institution. May she live in your Heavenly grace and light, and may her daughters Buffy and Dawn, and all others who come here to learn, teach and dwell, follow in her shining example of goodness, nurturing and love. In your name we ask, Amen."

He opened a bottle of Holy Water and sprinkled it all around the steps and doorway.

Carl, Joan and Giles then opened the doors, and Buffy and Dawn followed them and led the others into the foyer. There they found the unexpected remainder of their grandparents' surprise: hanging from the railing to the bedroom level and centered facing the front door was a large, framed 3 foot by 2 foot copy, finished on canvas, of their favorite studio portrait of their mother. To the right of it was a smaller but still enlarged copy of the last family portrait taken of themselves and Joyce about a year before her death. To the left was a photo of a twenty-something Joan and thirty-something Carl-- then as now, in a rumpled seersucker suit and straw homburg-- with a six year old Pauline and four year old Joyce. It was an enlarged, restored and computer-enhanced copy of the one old snapshot Carl had carried with him for four decades after he and Joan had separated.

It was considerably noisier indoors as the gathering became more compressed. "All right," Giles called out. "Slayers, please follow Xander, Willow and Tony straight ahead into the dining area where they will give out the room assignments and keys. You'll have about an hour to settle in before lunch is ready. Keep in mind, as we've said earlier, that right now we have enough rooms that each of you will have her own room with a few vacancies to spare. But we anticipate, depending on how many of the thirty or forty or so other Slayers around the world choose to join us after we've made contact, that we may have to double up the rooms as necessary, at least on a temporary basis."

It quieted down considerably as the Slayers and Andrew carried their luggage past the staircase and the kitchen, which was busy with a small crew of cooks that the new Council had contracted for the academy's dining needs from Carl's favorite local catering service. That left the extended Kolchak family, Father Phil and Giles in the foyer. It was then that Buffy and Dawn noticed that, standing behind Pauline and Matt, Cyndi and Eric were each carrying a large giftwrapped box.

"Buffy, Dawnie," Pauline smiled as she placed her hands on their shoulders, "we brought you guys a little housewarming present. We know that you lost just about everything you owned in Sunnydale. And we know that most of what you lost can never be replaced. But there were a few things that we _were_ in a position to replace, and that's what we've done."

She took the two packages from Cyndi and Eric, which were identical except for the small cards with the sisters' names on them. She handed them to their named recipients. Both Buffy and Dawn found them to be quite heavy for their volume.

"Thanks, Aunt Polly," they both said, then ripped open the giftwrapping. Inside each box was a thick brown leather ring binder, the covers of which had embossed gold lettering which read, respectively, "Buffy Anne Summers" and "Dawn Joyce Summers". They each opened their binders and found that they were photo albums, beginning with the same photo of Carl, Joan, Pauline and Joyce, and then followed by more pictures from the same set with just the two girls and Joan, which were the ones that Joan had kept after the separation; following were more pictures of Joyce and Pauline as they grew up, and then several more various family pictures, pictures of Joyce and Hank's wedding, baby pictures of Buffy and Dawn, and several pictures of the nuclear Summers family as they grew, including all the school portraits. Dawn was particularly moved by the pictures of her early childhood; the whole issue of the monks of Dagon altering the past and the reality of her pre-teen existence had been resurrected and heightened by the destruction of their home, possessions and Sunnydale. The existence of concrete evidence reassured Dawn that the past had indeed been physically altered rather than her being part of some strange and super-powerful illusion.

"Your mom was so proud of both of you," Pauline said. "I don't think there's a picture that ever existed of either of you that she didn't send copies of to us and to Grandma. So all three of your cousins spent days just scanning and printing copies of everything we had."

"Thanks, everyone!" Dawn smiled tearfully, then hugged each of her cousins, Pauline and Matt individually, with Buffy quickly following suit.

* * *

The Slayers moved into the rooms in the wings of the building, and the Council completed their own moves into the rooms at the next-upper level of the center section; Buffy and Dawn took two rooms with a shared bathroom, Willow took a third room on their side of the wide hall, while Xander and Andrew took the rooms directly across the hall from Buffy and Dawn, which still left three vacant bedrooms on that level; as Buffy had predicted, Giles had declined taking one of those rooms and Carl, Father Phil and Tony had helped him find an apartment in Keogh City proper. One of the first things everyone noticed as they looked out the lake side windows was a thirty foot motorized yacht moored to the end of the pier; the name on the bow read _Night Stalker II_, and it appeared to indeed have a fresh paint job. It was a very light straw-colored finish with a broad, black-bordered red band that encircled the hull just above the waterline, replicating the band around Carl's trademark hat.

After everyone had started a buffet-style lunch, Xander approached Carl on the back deck, cocked his head toward the pier and said, "You really weren't kidding! That yacht's your _little_ one?"

Carl grinned and chuckled but said nothing.

"And the big one?"

"...would literally be the big fish in the little pond here at Lake Keogh," Carl continued to grin. "So I keep it at a marina in San Luis Obispo. I'll take everyone out on it one of these days after things settle down."

"Have you always had that paint job?"

"On both yachts," Carl nodded.

"Doesn't that kind of compromise the secrecy of this place as the new Slayer Central?"

"Not really. Both boats have had that paint job for years, the people around the area know me. A lot of them just think of me the way _you_ first thought of me when I first told you and the girls who I really was." He laughed. "Some old rich eccentric who _thinks_ he's Kolchak the Night Stalker!"

Matt walked up to them with a wide smile. "Dad, I can't believe this place!"

"Thanks. Glad you like it, Matt."

"It's almost _too_ nice. Polly and I are going to have a hard time keeping Cyndi and Colette from wanting to come here."

Xander reached into his pocket and handed Matt an eyepatch. "Here. This is one of my spares. Any time they start to give you a hard time about not letting them come here, show it to 'em and remind them that being associated with Slayers and the Watcher's Council comes with a price."

"Thanks," Matt nodded.

Almost on cue, Colette jumped from the yacht to the dock and walked up to them. "Wow, Grandpa! This place is so awesome!"

"Here it comes," Matt murmured, bracing himself.

"Dad," Colette looked at him with puppy-dog eyes, "why can't I go to school here?"

Matt slapped the eyepatch into her palm. "Ask Buffy's friend Xander here!"

"As I was just telling your dad," Xander said, "being a Slayer or a Watcher comes with a price."

"But I already _am_ a Slayer!"

"And you can come here," Matt said, "when you turn eighteen. Same for your sister. Not that your mom and I will be happy about it if either of you decide to."

"What?" Colette protested. "That's five and a half years from now for me!"

"It's okay, Honey," Carl said. "We plan on having a training program for girls of all ages. A lot of the new Slayers are already over eighteen. So the school will still be here when you turn eighteen."

"But why should _I_ wait? Buffy was only three years older than I am now when she became a Slayer. Dawn may have just become a Slayer, but she was my age when she started getting exposed to all these vampires and demons."

"Because Buffy and Dawn," Matt replied, "_and_ Aunt Joyce didn't have a choice at the time. We do!"

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Rona squinted. "You're Buffy and Dawn's cousin, the Kolchaks' granddaughter, and you and your sister are both Slayers who were called the same time we were. And you _won't_ be going to school here?"

"That's right," Cyndi nodded. She, Rona, Vi and Tracie were gathered on the foredeck of the yacht as it floated in its moorings, with a handful of other Slayers also on board and milling around nearby.

"That makes a lot of sense," Tracie rolled back her eyes.

"My parents don't want us to have any part of it. For now. I plan on coming when I turn eighteen in two years. I guess my sister will too, when she turns eighteen."

"But your cousin was the original Slayer," Rona said, "and your grandpa's a legendary demon hunter. Seems to me that this is a family business."

"That's what we told our parents," Cyndi said. "But Mom and Dad are dead set against it. Especially Mom. I don't know everything about what happened the last time she was in Sunnydale, but from what I can gather, these evil thugs without eyes kidnapped her, and started to use her as a blood sacrifice until Dawn and Buffy and this Spike person rescued her."

"That about sums it," Tracie nodded.

"We were all there when it happened," Vi added. "Not the rescue, but the kidnapping."

"Which makes even less sense for your parents," Tracie said. "Why wouldn't they want you and your sister to learn how to protect yourselves from danger, like from the Bringers?"

"Mom just wants us to steer clear of this kind of stuff. Plus, the Bringers and the First Evil or whatever it's called are out of business anyway, right?"

Vi stifled a laugh. "Evil is never out of business."

"And sometimes, you just can't run away from who you are," Rona added. "Believe me, we all tried."

* * *

That evening, after everyone had dinner and the McDades left and returned to Glendale, Giles called a meeting in the lounge. "I trust everyone is happy with their living quarters for now," he began. "Everyone will have a few days to settle in and familiarize himself or herself with our new environs, but don't get _too_ comfortable. Because I plan to utilize everyone for the next phase of our operations, which will involve some extensive travel over the rest of the summer."

There was a murmur of excitement among the Slayers. There had been talk about everyone possibly going on trips all over the world, and for a group of mostly teenage girls who had spent the last several months cooped up in Sunnydale fearing for their lives and dying of cabin fever and claustrophobia, even the freedom of a luxury hotel in Glendale hadn't been enough of a relief for most of them.

"As most of you already know," Giles continued, "the primary task at hand is to find the other new Slayers out there all over the world. I've overheard some of you referring to this as a 'round-up'. I, however, would rather think of this as a 'recruiting drive'. Just as all of you were free to leave Sunnydale before the final fight at the Hellmouth, each one of these other new Slayers is free to decline to join us and to go about her merry way."

Buffy stood and moved up next to Giles. "All of you got a chance to meet my cousins Cyndi and Colette. Some of you have expressed to us how shocked you were that two of my cousins who are also Slayers won't be attending here. Well, since they're both minors at this point, that's a decision my Aunt Polly and Uncle Matt made for them. That's also what you can expect from the parents of some of these other Slayers, and from some of the Slayers themselves. Keep in mind that almost all these other Slayers were never identified as Potentials and therefore had absolutely no contact with the Old Council. Some of them may have had Slayer dreams, but other than that, they probably have no idea what the heck happened to them three weeks ago. We have to find them and let them know."

"We, of course," Giles said, "would like each of them to join us here at the Joyce Summers Academy to train them up properly, just as you will be trained-- and _had_ been trained, for those amongst you who had Watchers. But we want to avoid any coercion or pressure. We want to make it a soft sell. And you, their sister Slayers, are the best sales people and recruiters." He paused, turned toward Willow and said her name.

Willow stood and joined Giles and Buffy. "I've been busy in touch with the Coven in Westbury, England. We've been running repeated locator spells all over the world to find all the other new Slayers. For some reason none of us can figure, the number has been fluctuating, somewhere in the mid thirties to low forties. We've had hits in twenty-six different countries on every continent except Antarctica. We're working out a plan to have everyone cover as much of that ground as possible this summer before formal schooling starts here in September."

"Which brings us to the _secondary_ task at hand," Giles said, "and the thirty-one of your sister Slayers or Potentials who didn't make it out of Sunnydale alive. And their next of kin." Everyone lowered their heads reflexively. "A large plurality were American, I believe because the American Potentials had less distance to travel to Sunnydale, while evading the Bringers. But the remainder still hailed from fourteen different countries on every continent except Antarctica and Australia." He paused. "As head of the New Council, it is my fervent intent to eventually make a condolence call to the next of kin of each of those we lost. But I can't possibly do it all this summer. So I'd like you all to help me by making visits, particularly to the next of kin of those to whom you were particularly close among our dead, in coordination with visiting your own families and contacting the other new slayers. Since these are such daunting tasks, nobody's going to go solo except while you're visiting your own homes and families. Dawn," he turned and nodded to her.

"We're going to be breaking up into teams of no fewer than three," Dawn said to the group as she stood. "These teams will cover a given continent or other geographic area both in terms of finding and contacting the other new Slayers, and paying condolence calls. Willow and I have been divvying up the globe with respect to where the new girls appear to be, and where the next of kin are. So over the next few days, think about who you're comfortable with and who you'd like to be teamed up with, and what part of the world you'd like to go visit, and let me or Willow know and we'll try to accommodate everyone as best as we can."

* * *

She had tried to convinced herself that the nightmares had started _after_ the strange figures in the robes had come after her, but she could still swear that she'd had the first of the dreams weeks before the attack, that the dreams were premonitions that may have saved her life by causing her to run at the first sight of them. But then again, the most vivid of the nightmares were about the figures in the robes. Those and the ones about the young man. And even those were contradictory and confusing: either she was locked in a death struggle with the young man, or locked in some passionate, intimate acts with him. In the death struggles, she was either in a religious Asian temple of some kind, and the young man had long light brown hair and a flannel shirt and wool pants with suspenders; or they were in a moving subway train, the man had short, platinum hair and he was wearing black jeans and a black vest with nothing underneath. But it was unmistakably the same man, lean, muscular, average to tall height with high cheekbones. In either case, she always managed to wake up just before he killed her. But the intimate dreams were also with the same platinum blond young man and even more vivid, and that troubled her: Leslie was barely fifteen, had lived in the small town of Knutsford, Ontario all her life, and had never even gone as far as Second Base with a boy.

The dreams had started and the attack had occurred after the news that the town of Sunnydale, California had collapsed due to an earthquake, a town she was pretty sure she'd never heard of before, but which had been incorporated into her dreams as well; she remembered standing next to the edge of an enormous crater as a "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign fell over into it. But somehow, even though the news said that there was nothing left but rubble, instinct told her that heading toward Sunnydale meant, if not safety, then at least getting some answers.

"Dear Mom and Dad," she'd written in the note she mailed just before crossing the border at Niagara Falls. "I haven't run away. At least I haven't run away for the reasons that most girls my age run away. I'm not pregnant, I haven't gotten into drugs, or anything like that. And I'm not mad at you. But I'm in danger, and you and Kenny and Larry might be too if I don't get away. I can't really explain why I'm in danger because I don't really know why. I don't even know how I know exactly, I just know. I can't tell you where I'm going, but I promise you I'll call you when I'm safe. You can call the police if you want, but I don't think they can make me any safer..."

Once across the border, she managed to use her ATM card to withdraw most of her savings in US dollars and was now working her way westward along Lake Erie. Her newfound instinct also told her not to take long, direct legs on her trips that might make her more predictable for interception and leave her trapped aboard a train or bus with her pursuers. And the same instinct told her that Cleveland would be a relatively safe place to stop overnight. Again, a little something from the recesses of her dreams.

Once at the Cleveland bus terminal, she asked around about the nearest youth hostels in town. She found her way to the nearest hostel only three blocks from the terminal, only to find that it was full up; the next nearest hostel was another eleven blocks away near the waterfront. The sun had set by then, which wasn't good.

Following directions from the clerk of the first hostel, she found herself walking down a deserted street in the industrial section of town, among factories that had closed hours ago. Leslie seldom left Knutsford, and never ventured into the cities like Hamilton or Toronto except with her family or on well-chaperoned school trips, so the experience in a strange city on the other side of Lake Erie would have been frightening enough under ordinary circumstances. Now it only heightened the terror she'd felt nonstop since the hooded figures appeared. The general idea of stopping in Cleveland had felt right according to her new instincts, but now those same instincts had her tingling.

And then they appeared, in twos and threes, out of the alleys between the buildings on both sides of the street ahead of her; there had only been five of them when they accosted her back home, and now there were a dozen, moving forward to encircle her. Her instincts told her to run: the last time, by some miracle, she'd outrun the five attackers, and she knew she could do it again. But as she turned around, she saw that there were six more behind her, and they moved up to close the circle.

Her new instincts had failed her! Leslie thought she was headed for safety and had instead jumped right into their nest...

**END BOOK 1.**

**To be continued in _Book 2: Call to Battle_.**

* * *

**FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. _PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING_!**

**Once again, my apologies to anyone following this story for taking so long to update. I'm going to shoot for posting the first chapter of _Book 2: Call to Battle _before the end of 2005. If you have _Book 1: Home Base_ on Story Alert, you may want to put me on your Author Alert list as Book 1 is finished and Book 2 will be posted as a separate story.**

**SunflowerLynx: Just keep following this series. Everything in due time. Keep in mind the title of this entire series!**

**Unitarian Jihadist: Right back at ya about the demographics. Judging from your work _Caliban's Daughters_, especially the way you view Dawn's existence, you and I think alike. Must be a generational thing! ;-)**

**Also, ever since I became a BtVS fan, I've always considered _Buffy_ (as opposed to _The X-Files_) to be the true heir to the original 1970s _Kolchak: The Night Stalker_ in terms of the perfect blend of horror and comedy. So I wanted to do a Buffy/Kolchak crossover storyline which establishes Buffy Summers as the literal and metaphorical descendant and heir to Carl Kolchak. In addition, I always felt that Kolchak and Gail Foster should be reunited someday (particularly as Carol Lynley has always been one of my all-time favorite actresses), albeit logic dictated that her name be changed as explained in _Blood of the Night Stalker_ and Chapter 1 of this book. I hope I have done so effectively.**

**To anyone posting reviews of this chapter, please revisit this space as this is where I'll be responding to your comments and feedback, at least until Book 2 is up.**


End file.
